North Putnam boys' golf beats Cloverdale at Twin Bridges

With the threat of showers and possible thunderstorms, a window of blue skies and sunniness opened up for the Cougars and Clovers to play their match Monday at Twin Bridges. Deciding late in the afternoon not to cancel the match, both teams knew the conditions might adversely affect their scores for the night. Gusty winds throughout the day helped dry up the greens but there were still areas of standing water through the green and in the sand bunkers. But overall, both teams managed to stay out of most bunkers and were able to lift, clean, and place the ball.

North Putnam was able to edge out the Clovers 163-193.

Danny Smith had another great round for the Cougars coming in with a 39. With 16 putts, six pars, five fairways and six green in regulations, Smith continues to improve his scores and is beginning to be very consistent in what the team can expect from him. Jake Smith is really coming on strong right now, as he continues to shave off strokes each meet, and with only 12 putts this round, he carded a 40. Mason Asher, Ben Hazelgrove, Austin Judy and Jake Holtze all turned in scores of 42. Emmett Holsapple shot a 47 while Preston Porter and Tyler Martin scored a 52. The Cougars shot extremely well from tee to green but there still needs to be improvement on the putting green to get the scores where they need to be.

The Clovers would have needed just a few more breaks to get the win. Apart from the difficulties with the weather, they are also going some tough rotation issues.

"Taking nothing away from North, which is a very good team, we were not ourselves," Clover coach Doug Wokoun. "Rylan was ill, but persevered through a very excrutiating round. Freddie has some injury issues, but also made the effort. We need those two at optimum in a match against a team of this caliber, and we did not have that."

Picking up some slack for the team was Aaron Whitlock, Freddie Fislar and Chase Snyder, each coming in with scores under 50.

"Aaron Whitlock had a much better round than his score indicates, but his putter was a stumbling block," Wokoun said. "Chase had some good holes, but still hasn't put a nine hole effort together yet. Zach continues to work hard, and we expect his scores to starting moving to a more competitive mode.

The Cougars (4-0) travel to Deer Creek Tuesday for a three way with Cascade and Owen Valley and then again go to Rockville for another three way with Rockville and Turkey Run on Wednesday.

Cloverdale (4-2) travels to Plainfield Thursday to face Plainfield and Greencastle.

At Twin Bridges

North Putnam - D. Smith 39, J Smith 40, M Asher 42, B. Hazelgrove 42, A. Judy 42, J. Holtze 42

Cloverdale - Aaron Whitlock 44, Freddie Fislar 46, Chase Snyder 47, Rylan Mattocks 56, Zach Nichols 66