Cougars drop strokes, still fall short

DARLINGTON--The North Putnam girls' golf team travelled to Rocky Ridges golf course Wednesday evening to be hosted by the North Montgomery Chargers.

This meet came one night after the Cougars came in second in a three meet against Southmont and Rockville. Conditions were much better, though, and so were the scores, but despite improving their score by 14 strokes, they lost 180-222.

"This is a very large course," Cougars' coach Linda Patrick said. "I did not get to see everyone at all times. I'm going to guess they were doing the same things that they were last night because we haven't had any practice. We're in a second night of a three straight nights with meets. We have three meets in a row without the opportunity of working on some of the problems. One improvement I did see was putting. I stressed it last night. I told them to think about it and I told them the biggest thing about tonight was putting. I'm very happy that they heard me out."

The No. 2 golfer for North Putnam, senior Jessie Cox, displayed great strides. She improved her game by 12 strokes from the night before. She ended the night with a team best, 48.

Cougars' senior Olivia Zarate also had a talented performance with a 56. The rest of the Cougar team held their own as well. Junior Emily Harrington and freshman Taylor Dixon both scored 59s. Emily Eltz rounded out the meet with a 65.

As Patrick stated the Cougars showed great improvement in the putting game. Cox improved her putts by nine to top her team.

"I would hope that the improvement they've done will show them they have the ability to improve," Patrick said. "We have a very short season plus we have very few practices before we start. We don't get a lot of opportunities to work on the things they might be a little rusty on."

"Some nights you have great scores in golf and other nights you have bad scores," Patrick said. "That's the way it is in golf. It's just an individual sport."

This was a great showing and against most teams they would have competed. North Montgomery had two great golfers who recorded a 39 and a 44. They also had a freshman record a 46.

The Cougars will be back in action Thursday night at Windy Hills Golf Course in Greencastle. This will conclude their three meets in three days gauntlet.

"What I asked them to do tonight and last night was reflect their own personal game," Patrick said. "Since the coach can't be with them at every game and stroke, they have to analyze their own game and be able to say what was wrong. Every time we have a back-to-back-to-back like this we have to have a really good self-analysis."

At Rocky Ridges

North Montgomery 180 North Putnam 222

North Putnam - Cox 48, Zarate 56, Dixon 59, Harrington 59, Eltz 55

Northmont - Bonwell 39, Woodard 44, Douglas 46, Glass 51, Thompson 60, Gross 66