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Cloverdale’s Eli Kelley takes on strong field at IHSAA Harrison Boys’ Golf Regional Friday
CLOVERDALE – With the IHSAA Boys’ Golf State Tournament realignment coming to effect this year, an extra regional was carved out and will be front and center Friday.
The IHSAA Harrison Boys’ Golf Regional at Coyote Crossing GC, located north of West Lafayette, was added to the regional lineup, taking in the sectionals from Attica, Crispus Attucks, Lafayette Jeff, Martinsville and Westfield.
Among the golfers at the event will be Cloverdale’s Eli Kelley, who defeated teammate Zach Thomas and Avon’s Cooper Trigg in a playoff for the final individual qualifier spot out of the Martinsville Sectional.
Monday’s sectional was a tough round for Cloverdale as a whole, which finished fifth overall, though Kelley said he did enough to get the job done.
“My front nine was pretty rough,” Kelley said after carding a 44 at the turn at Foxcliff GC. “On the back nine, I was thinking what I could do to fix things.
“I shot 39 on the back. It still isn’t the best but it got me out, so I’m pretty happy with it.”
Kelley shot 83 for the round, as did Thomas and Trigg, setting up a playoff on the first hole to determine who would join Monrovia’s Titus Boswell and Martinsville’s Xander Hutton at the regional.
Kelley was able to make par while Thomas and Trigg both took bogeys and saw their seasons come to an end.
“I was nervous,” Kelley said about the playoff. “But I think either way, if I won or Zach won, I would be happy because I could go watch and support him in the regional.”
Thomas agreed, saying whoever won had the other’s support, though he wanted it to be one of the Clover pair, even if both players work with Trigg at Twin Bridges GC in Danville.
“I wasn’t nervous but thought whatever happens, happens,” Thomas said. “That’s kind of how life is.
“I did hope that one of us won. We want it more than other people and I feel like we deserved that.”
Cloverdale head coach Mark Rogers said what impressed him the most was seeing both players take everything in stride, not allowing the situation to get in between them.
“No one wants to lose a playoff but the friendship overtook the competitiveness,” Rogers said. “I was so proud of them for that.
“They were hosing each other a little bit on the way back home a bit but they’re buddies and that’s more important than anything else.”
Kelley, Thomas and Rogers took a practice round at Coyote Crossing Wednesday to get a feel for the course ahead of Friday’s round.
“It’s super nice,” Kelley said about the regional course. “It’s way different than Foxcliff.
“The greens are hard and fast where at Foxcliff, they were much slower. It’s playable for me and I think I can score there. It’s a longer course and we were playing all the way back on the tees..
Unlike the other five regionals, which took place Thursday, the Harrison Regional will take place Friday with some of the state’s biggest hitters in the field, including No. 1 Westfield, No. 2 Guerin Catholic, No. 6 Zionsville, No. 13 Brebeuf Jesuit, No. 18 Faith Christian and HM Plainfield among the teams at the event while No. 10 Carmel has three individuals in the field after finishing fourth at the Westfield Sectional.
With the regional changes also came a change in the number of individuals advancing from each site as now only two players will advance without a team to the IHSAA Boys’ Golf State Finals to accommodate three additional teams advancing to the finals.
Competing against a strong field on the 6,839-yard course, one with several portions of water and a creek crisscrossing the ground, was not an easy task but Rogers said the course played to the strengths of both Kelley and Thomas.
“The course suits Eli and Zach,” Rogers said. “They’re both pretty long off the tee and that’s helpful to Eli.
“I think he definitely can get out, especially with what I’ve seen all year long, and what I saw (Wednesday), I think both of those guys could get out if Zach was able to make it. Foxcliff is a bit of an anomaly; it was just one of those days.
“The course suits Eli better than Foxcliff,” Rogers added. “He’s made for that course and if he doesn’t try to do too much at the wrong time, he’ll be alright. He just has to be patient, just take a couple deep breaths here and there.”
Despite the challenge ahead on Friday, Kelley said he was looking to put in his best round of the season and see how things shook out from there.
“I want to play my best,” Kelley said. “If I don’t make it out, I still want to know I gave it my all.”