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Tiger Cub girls take county golf crown
Masten wins medalist honors
CLOVERDALE — Greencastle entered Monday evening’s Putnam County golf match as the favorite, based upon having defeated the other county teams in the Western Indiana Conference meet last month.
The Tiger Cubs lived up to that standing in the county meet, recording a team score of 194 to edge second-place Cloverdale by six strokes.
South Putnam was third with 211, while North Putnam was fourth with 228.
Greencastle’s Macey Masten was the medalist for the second straight year, after being a co-medalist in 2016. Masten finished in a tie with teammate Bailey Shuee, and won a one-hole playoff to earn the medalist honors.
Making Masten’s accomplishment even more outstanding is that she was still fighting off effects of bronchitis, which had sidelined her from recent competitions.
“Macey and Bailey had very good scores of 44,” Greencastle coach Steve Paquin said. “Rose White probably was the big difference in the match with a score of 52, seven shots better than her season average.”
The Tiger Cubs can add this title to their WIC crown as they prepare for Saturday’s sectional at Forest Park in Brazil.
“This has been a learning experience as the girls continue to improve and are able to execute the many different shots they have during a round,” he said. “The Cubs finish the regular season with a 13-9 record to go along with the two championships. This has been an excellent season for a young and inexperienced team.”
Cloverdale coach Kyle Walter was coaching in his first county tourney and was also pleased with his team.
“I was very pleased with how all of my girls played,” he said. “We played about as well as we could have as a team, Greencastle has some very good players and hats off to them.”
Walter also thinks his team’s good performance will be helpful this weekend.
“This should be a good momentum builder going into the sectional this Saturday, and then the regional the following week for those that qualify,” he said. “It was really great to get both of my seniors on the all-county team (Walker and Nichols), along with Sammie.
“Those two girls have made my first year of coaching very enjoyable and they have been great leaders for the younger girls.”
Coach Kevin Metz of South Putnam had set two goals for his team, and it accomplished both of them.
“I was very pleased with our girls’ performance,” he said. “My two goals going into county was to have all my girls shoot under a 60 and for our team total to be below 220. We achieved both goals, so we had a pretty successful night. “
He was also proud of his all-county performer.
“I was happy to see we had one player — Anna Carrington — make the all-county team,” he said. “Hopefully we are moving in the right direction with one week left in the regular season. “
North Putnam coach Linda Patrick had the youngest team in the field, and likes the improvement her players are making — even though they still have things on which to improve.
“Although the weather was perhaps the best golf weather of the season — with slight but sometimes gusty winds, hard ground and fast greens — the conditions made it difficult for all county golfers to play at their best level.”
Patrick thought the conditions “made it evident” that course management and club selection were going to be important aspects of the game.
“Senior Taylor Dixon managed to finish her last high school county tourney coming in with a 46, only two strokes off the medalist score of 44, and earned a spot on the all-county team,” Patrick said. “Taylor had three double bogeys in a row, which affected her score immensely.”
Sophomore Abby Simmerman came in strong with a 52, keeping her off the all-county team by one stroke.
“Abby had two rough holes but managed to pull her game together to card the 52,” Patrick said. “Inconsistency, high putting numbers and poor ball striking were major factors affecting the scores of the remaining three Lady Cougar freshmen.”
Patrick said the penalties incurred were generally the result of not being in the fairways and hitting more laterally rather than straight.
“Between now and sectionals, these girls are going to have to straighten up their hits and get the putting numbers down.”
The four Putnam County teams will compete in the Northview Sectional at Forest Park on Saturday.
Other teams in the field are Northview, Rockville, South Vermillion, Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South and West Vigo.
The top three teams in the sectional, plus the top three individuals not on advancing teams, will qualify to play on Sept. 23 in the Roncalli Regional at the Legends Golf Club in Indianapolis.
Putnam County girls’ golf tourney
All-county team
44 — *-Macey Masten (G), Bailey Shuee (G)
46 — Abby Walker (C), Taylor Dixon (NP)
48 — Sammie Shrum (C)
50 — Hannah Nichols (C)
51 — Anna Carrington (SP)
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52 — Drew Steffy (SP), Abby Simmerman (NP), Rose White (G)
53 — Reagan Ladd (SP)
54 — Marin Nally (G)
55 — Leighla Hazlett (SP)
56 — Gayle Baugh (C)
57 — Molly Ramey (G)
58 — Kate McCammack (SP)
61 — Haylee Greene (NP)
64 — Libby Domingues (C)
69 — Brittany Bonifacius (NP)
71 — Grace Timm (NP)
*-won one-hole playoff