Tiger Cubs, Cougars set for regional

Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Greencastle's boys' golf team will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday after winning the Attica Sectional on Friday. Team members are (from left) Blaise Hasty, Jake Bennett, Jake Buis, Jonah Stevens, Jaxon Parmley and coach Steve Paquin.

Greencastle and North Putnam will be competing in the Washington boys' golf regional on Thursday at the Country Oaks Club, both with hopes of advancing to next week's state finals in Carmel.

Greencastle won Friday's Attica sectional with a 324, while Seeger was second with a 330 and North Putnam placed third with a 333.

Those three teams will be joined by the top three team and non-advancing individual finishers from the Crispus Attucks, Martinsville, Linton-Stockton, Vincennes Lincoln and Evansville Mater Dei sectionals.

Greencastle and North Putnam are no strangers to regional competition, as the Tiger Cubs are making their fifth straight appearance and North Putnam has advanced out of the sectional for the past four years.

Tiger Cub coach Steve Paquin feels the short game is where his team has needed to focus its final preparations this week.

"Each player will work on the areas of their game that needs some extra attention," he said. "Most important will be working on chipping and putting, as this is where each player needs to focus."

Greencastle will go to the Country Oaks course today in Washington for a practice round.

"The practice round is to get the feeling for the course and especially the speed of the greens," he said. "All of our players have played the course at least twice except Jaxon Parmley."

Paquin noted that senior Jake Buis is the most experienced at Country Oaks, having qualified each of the past four years with three sectional championships and a third place last year.

The other three players -- Jake Bennett, Blaise Hasty, and Jonah Stevens -- were on last years' third-place sectional team.

"Last year, we were able to shoot a 325 led by Jake Buis's 74, which gave him the opportunity to try to qualify for state," said Paquin, noting that Buis was defeated in a playoff with four other players for the final qualifying spot.

Bennett had a 79, Stevens and Hasty had 86s and Carl Basile an 89, Paquin said.

"Based on last year's winning scores of 298 for first, 299 for second and 308 third, we will have to average around 75 to make it to state," Paquin said. "We will have to play excellent golf to advance. A lot of it depends on the quality of the other teams that make it to the regional."

Regardless of the outcome, Paquin has enjoyed watching this year's team progress.

"We have come a long way this season with a very young and inexperienced team and have improved greatly," he said. "Advancing out of the regional would be icing on the cake to make this season a great one for our seniors."

North Putnam's boys' golf team will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday after finishing third in the Attica Sectional on Friday. Team members are (from left) coach Shawn Alspaugh, Austin Judy, Marcus Burdine, Logan Grimm, Jake Holtze and Preston Porter

In reflecting upon Friday's sectional, North Putnam coach Shawn Alspaugh recognized that his team played as well as it has played all year on the front nine, and was able to salvage an advancing spot despite higher scores on the back nine.

"As we gear up for regionals, we'll have to combine both of those aspects together," he said. "We will have to play our best golf of the year, and still fight and grind for every stroke. We'll have to putt well and really take advantage of our opportunities. We'll have to putt well -- saving a lot of pars when we need to get up and down -- but also get the birdies on those rare opportunities when they arise.

Alspaugh thinks the length of the Country Oaks course will benefit his players.

"Country Oaks actually sets up pretty well for us," he said. "It's a longer course, but length isn't a huge obstacle for us. Austin [Judy] and Jake [Holtze] are both very long off the tee, and while Logan [Grim] and Preston [Porter] aren't as bad, they don't tend to hit a lot of greens anyway, so in that respect the extra yardage won't dramatically affect them."

Alspaugh said the course is a little more wide open than Harrison Hills, which will help his team if it gets "a little wild," which can happen.

"Traditionally, the team score needed to advance is between 300-310, and since 155 is our best nine-hole score of the year so far, our best round would put us at the upper end of that range," he said. "It's definitely possible to advance, but will take our best golf from 4 different guys.

Judy's 77 placed him second overall in the sectional, and Alspaugh thinks he has a chance to advance as an individual if the team does not finish highly enough.

"Individually, usually a 74 will get you in contention to advance, but sometimes a 72 or 73 is needed," he said. "Austin will have an outside shot at shooting that if he plays well. At sectionals, he actually did not hit the ball great, and missed five birdie putts inside of about five feet [and had no birdies on his round]."

"If he can convert his opportunities and fight for a couple more strokes, he should be right in contention," Alspaugh added. "Last year at this course for regionals he shot a 78, so it's within his range."

Like Paquin, Alspaugh and his team are looking forward to the challenge of the regional and are thankful for a great season regardless of the outcome.

"I've enjoyed these kids tremendously this year," said Alspaugh, in his first year at North Putnam. "I am happy I got one more week with them, and they get another opportunity to play golf and compete against some of the best in the state."

North Putnam's players will tee off at 9 a.m. from the No. 10 tee, and will be playing with Covenant Christian, Plainfield and five of the advancing individuals.

Greencastle's players will tee off at 9:20 from the first tee and are paired with players from Northview, Gibson Southern and Park Tudor in their foursomes.

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