Samuels earn medalist honors in GHS 198-207 win

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

GREENCASTLE -- On a beautiful and cloudless Monday evening, the Greencastle girls golf team carded a 198 to best visiting North Montgomery by nine strokes at Windy Hill Country Club.

The Tiger Cubs were led by senior Chelsea Samuels' eight-over 44, good enough for medalist honors, and Diane Wokoun's 46. Katie Hedge added a 49, and Kay Wood's 59 rounded out the team total.

"That's our first time under 200 this season, and to do that on this course is good for us," coach Brad Kingma said.

Kingma said Windy Hill is always a tough place to play, despite it being the Tiger Cubs' home course, due partly to its hilly landscape but especially its sloped greens. As evidence, the coach offered an interesting statistic to his squad after the match: Greencastle tallied an average of 14 more strokes on this course than at away courses last year.

"This is probably the hardest course, except for Regionals, that we play. Everyone looks at the hills, but it's the greens that make this so tough," Kingma said.

North Montgomery senior Caitlyn White apparently agreed with that assessment, saying to her coach Kendra Rumler mid-round: "I swear the greens are bi-polar."

But the hills and fast greens had little effect on one veteran. Wokoun, a senior who has played as Greencastle's No. 3 this year, had one of her best rounds of the early season, according to Kingma.

"Diane played well today and hit a lot of good shots, particularly on the par 3s," Kingma said.

For Samuels, Greencastle's No. 1, it wasn't one of the best outings, especially in the middle part of the round. Still, she rebounded nicely and finished by sinking three straight pars.

"Chelsea struggled with her swing in the middle, but she found it late," Kingma said. "It was good to see her bounce back like that."

Kingma also noted a team-wide issue that, if improved, could help shave several strokes off the team total.

"The big problem I've been noticing is we're doing really poorly on our long putting, having way too many three-puts," he said. "We're either three-putting or one-putting, so that tells me we've got to do a better job getting our longer putts close to the hole to get rid of those three-putts."

On Tuesday, Greencastle continued its winning ways by defeating West Vigo 206-258.

Hedge led the Tiger Cubs with a 44, followed by Samuels with 49 and Wokoun with a 54. Wood added a 59 and St. Marie finished the GHS scoring with a 63.

"I'm glad Katie was able to bounce back from a couple of sub-par performances and earn her first medalist honor," Kingma said. "Chelsea struggled with her swing. She's not been finishing strong and hitting her shots right.

At Windy Hill C.C.

(Monday)

Team Results

Greencastle 198, North Montgomery 207

Individual Results

Medalist -- Samuels (GHS) 44

Greencastle -- Samuels 44, Wokoun 46, Hedge 49, Wood 59

North Montgomery -- Pettit 48, White 50, Williams 53, Carpenter 56

At West Vigo

(Tuesday)

Team Results

Greencastle 206, West Vigo 258

Medalist -- Hedge (GHS) 44

Individual Results

Greencastle -- Hedge 44, Samuels 49, Wokoun 54, Wood 59, St. Marie 63