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GHS golf team hosts Invitational at Windy Hill
The Tiger Cub Invitational brought seven teams out to Windy Hill Golf Course Saturday, including North Putnam, in what might have been the best weather of 2015.
Both Greencastle and North Putnam fared well at the meet though neither team walked away with a first-place finish. That honor went to Southmont which scored 333. North Putnam was close behind, scoring 337 strokes with its junior Austin Judy medaling with a score of 76. Greencaastle placed-third with 341.
While the weather may have been perfect, certain players did struggle and with the score so close, most teams' expectations were for slightly lower scores.
"Jake Buis had his highest score and struggled on the back nine with inconsistent iron play and putting," GHS coach Stephen Paquin said. "We need consistency in ball striking, chipping and putting to lower our team score."
North Putnam coach Linda Patrick thought shots from her team could have been better given the circumstances.
"Even with weather conditions being optimal for golf, the course play by some Cougars was not," Patrick said. "As discussed with the players before the meet at practices, it was going to be imperative that players have greater control with their drives and hit the fairways as much as possible. However, the most troublesome parts of playing at Windy Hill are the small, hard, fast-running greens."
The Cougars' medalist, Judy, said that limiting his mistakes was key to the first-place finish.
"My driver wasn't working too good," Judy said. "I teed off a lot with my hybrid so I didn't have to use my drive a lot. I just eliminated a lot of my big miss-hit balls and putted really well. My shortgame was OK but probably the best part of my game today."
Patrick said Judy's success is due to his off season efforts.
"Austin Judy had a great day at Windy Hill shooting a 76," Patrick said. "He tied with South Vermillion player Walthrop. The tie breaker was made by going back to the hardest hole and looking at individual scores. This was hole 16 and Judy had a birdie and Walthrop a par. Judy has spent lots of time at Windy Hill in the off season and perhaps is the most experienced player from the Cougars who really knew how to handle the greens."
While GHS' team scores were lower than what Tiger Cub fans would have liked, the young Greencastle team can be optimistic about its future.
"Best day of the season for Jake Bennett and Carl Basile; both played well and shot their lowest scores of the year," Paquin said. "Decision making on what clubs to hit is still a problem for this young team. We are improving on controlling our emotions after bad shots."
North Putnam feels as though it could improve its scores in the future, according to Judy and it will soon have a rematch opportunity against GHS.
"We're a little disappointed," Judy said. "We knew we could win. As a team we struggled today. We had a little difficulty with our swings but I'm sure we will figure it out."
Judy said his Cougar team is a good matchup for anyone in the conference and he thinks its chances for the finals are pretty good.
Greencastle will next play at Windy Hill Monday against Danville.
North Putnam's match at Fountain Central was canceled so its next match will be at Twin Bridges with Greencastle again and Crawfordsville tagging along.
At Windy Hill GC
Team Scores: Southmont 333, North Putnam 337, Greencastle 341 ,Rockville 389, South Vermillion 389 , West Vigo 404
Individual Scores: Medalist: Austin Judy- North Putnam 76, Logan Waldrop - South Vermillion 76, Blake Williams- Southmont 78.
Team Individual Scoring: North Putnam: Austin Judy 76, Jake Holtze 83, Danny Smith 87, Preston Porter 91, Emmett Holsapple 105.
Greencastle: Jake Bennett 81, Carl Basile 83, Jake Buis 84, Blaise Hasty 93, Lucas Gillen 103