NPHS wins school's first golf sectional
CRAWFORSDSVILLE--Windy but pleasant weather provided a nice setting for the IHSAA boys' golf sectional round at Crawfordsville Municipal Golf Course Friday. While Greencastle earned third place with 351 and South Putnam was 14th with 449, North Putnam posted the lowest score with 333 and walked away with the first IHSAA Sectional title in school history.
"It's been the goal for this year," Cougar coach Linda Patrick said. "They've worked very hard to get here. I'm glad that we are here. I wanted to make sure this team was able to make it to sectionals and get first place while I was still coaching."
For upperclassmen the win was even more special and senior Danny Smith who shot an 80, was able to appreciate the moment with his team.
"It feels great," Smith said. "We've never done this before so it's kind of new to all of us. It feels great to do it. I'm glad I did it as a senior, to finally get it done."
The victory comes after several victories throughout the season, the most recent of which was a win at Windy Hill that earned North Putnam the county crown. Junior Jake Holtze said the course in Crawfordsville has fewer obstacles than the regional course Country Oaks has in Montgomery in Daviess County
"This course is challenging," Holtze said. "But it has places you can score well on. The course at regional plays a lot longer. The greens are a lot faster than these are. I'm expecting we should do pretty well next week, but we need to be ready for it."
Adding to the challenge at the sectional match was the steady wind that never let up as the match wore on. However, Patrick thinks the team's resilience played a role in the win.
"I think that says a lot about their determination and their perseverance," Patrick said. "They had three main goals this year; to win conference, to win county and to take first position in sectional. They all had it. It came from the heart and their gut."
North Putnam's Austin Judy had a good day, individually placing as a medalist runner-up with his score of 77.
"I was really excited," Judy said. "I was really happy too that we all made it. We've never done this before. We've never won a sectional championship for our school. So I'm happy. We'll go down in the record books for that. I'm ready to go compete and make it to state."
Advancing along with the Cougars will be their purple Putnam County rivals. GHS coach Steve Paquin says while not totally satisfied with the score he is extremely happy to be advancing.
"We didn't play the best that we played this year," he said. "But we played well enough to advance to the regional. That's your goal. You want to advance every time. Winning it is extra gravy. North Putnam did a great job. As young as we were, to qualify for regionals is a pretty good accomplishment."
Paquin said the younger players have an opportunity to lower their scores further as they grow and mature into better golfers.
"The inexperience in the chipping and putting is where everything takes place," Paquin said. "With the young players it takes time and a lot of playing in tournaments and practicing. That's where you improve your game. So next year we will find out how much they really want to work and how much they want to improve."
North Putnam and Greencastle along with Southmont beat out 11schools to advance and will be playing even tougher competition as they each go deeper into the post-season. Winners from five other sectionals, including the Evansville Mater Dei and Martinsville sectional, will be competing for the top spot Thursday.
"It requires dedication and the heart to do it," Cougar senior Emmett Holsapple said. "The perseverance to make it through. I'm playing with two injuries from football. Also it's just getting out there and practicing, being there for your team."
Coach Patrick said that the victory can't be earned without the entire team effort.
"We have two guys that never played here before, Emmett and Preston (Porter). They came up with 90s. Those are respectable scores for the first time ever in the sectional and (Porter's) 93 put us where we are."
Porter knows that while he grows the potential for improvement grows as well and he looks forward to competing at a high level throughout his high school career.
"I'm really excited," Porter said. "I'm only a sophomore so I've got two more years, that's awesome. Hopefully we can go up to regional and get it done to advance to state."
South Putnam's coach Kevin Metz was unable to comment in time for press but has expressed confidence in his young team's prowess and has said he is optimistic about future years.
Patrick said that apart from a few adjustments, her Cougars are set for the tougher golfers at Country Oaks.
"We'll be heading to regional and we'll have some work to do," Patrick said. "There were some things that I saw that we need to tweak a little bit and work on. Nothing major. At this stage in the game you've played enough golf you know what it is all about."
Golf Course
IHSAA Boys' Golf Sectional
Team Standings
North Putnam 333,, Southmount 342, Greencastle 351 , Crawfordsville 363, Covington 378, Attica 380, North Montgomery 382, Rockville 388, Turkey Run 389, Seeger 392, South Vermillion 393, Fountain Central 412, North Vermillion 421, South Putnam 449
Individual Top Three
1. Waldrop (SV) 74
2. Judy (NP) 77
3. Bullerdick (Sm) 78
Putnam County Team Results
North Putnam (333) -- Judy 77, Smith 80, Holtz 83, Porter 93, Holsapple 96
Greencastle (351) -- Buis 80, Hasty 88, Bennett 91, Basile 92, Stevens 93
South Putnam (449) -- Hicks 89, Williams 115, McAllister 120, Shrader 125, Rutter DQ