Hacker leads Clover golf to victory

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Cloverdale's Justin Hacker knocks in a putt on number 18 at Clover Meadows. Hacker was a surprise in the match, coming from the Clovers' number five position to take medalist with a one-over 37.

CLOVERDALE -- When a team's number five golfer posts the low score, it usually means very good things or very bad things. Either the golfer in question shot a wonderful round and led a solid team effort, or the top-rated golfers had rough nights.

For Cloverdale and Justin Hacker, Monday night was actually somewhere in the middle.

Hacker shot a one-over-par 37 to earn medalist honors and lead his team to a 170-181-185 victory against visiting South Putnam and Tri-West.

Coach Doug Wokoun was satisfied with his team's effort, but was very excited with his number five's effort.

"I'm extremely pleased for Justin. He's had some good practice rounds, but (tonight) he had that breakthrough in a match," Wokoun said.

"It's very gratifying to see that," he added.

Hacker himself seemed pleased, but remained self-effacing in victory.

"I did all right. I could've been better," Hacker said.

For the team as a whole, Monday's round was a nice comeback. On Saturday, the Clovers had what Wokoun termed a "disappointing" day at the Brownsburg Invitational. Having found some success early in the season, their 18-hole score of 372, 80 shots behind champion Plainfield, was not what the coach wanted to see.

Monday was a different story. Wokoun had told his kids he wanted to see them shoot a 165.

"We're fairly close to what I told our guys we wanted to do tonight," Wokoun said. "We're kind of back on track again."

For South Putnam, the night was less gratifying. The Eagles continue to search for their scoring touch. Coach Scott Ricke thought the scoring conditions were ideal. He simply saw the Clovers take advantage of it while his Eagles did not.

"We've been focusing a lot on the mental game and trying to be positive," he said. This has involved, among other things, trying to make positives from negatives and focusing on the next shot rather than dwelling on a bad shot.

"We're still looking for that breakthrough performance where these guys show me in a match what they can do in practice," Ricke said.

One positive on the night was the play of the Eagles' Jon Weaver. The number three shot a 39 to take the runner-up positions. Ricke said Weaver started slowly but rebounded.

"We expect him to continue to keep putting up solid low numbers," Ricke said.

Another plus for the Eagles is hosting Edgewood today at 4:30 p.m., their first home match of the year.

For the Clovers, action resumes Thursday night at Phil Harris Golf Course against White River Valley, Owen Valley and Sullivan. Wokoun called it a "big match," but believed his team has it in them to come out on top. The four-way match begins at 4:30 p.m.

At Clover Meadows

Cloverdale 170, South Putnam 181, Tri-West 185

Cloverdale -- Justin Hacker 37, Michael Glassburn 43, Sean Rhine 45, Kevin Gregg 45, Andrew Cofer 49

South Putnam -- Jon Weaver 39, Tyler Newby 46, Cory Welty 46, Trea Boyce 50, Ben Anderson 55

Tri-West -- Nate Redman 40, Tylan Thompson 47, Steve Ricks 48, Rigel Hahn 50, Ben Berger 54

Junior Varsity Results

Cloverdale -- Mike Wellington 47, Kevin Dean 51, Blake Witt 52, Thomas Maynard 52, Josh Welty 54, Jake Secrest 56, Jeff McMillan 60, Ben Unger 63, Jeff Williams 65, Devon Looper 78

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