Maroons' Hibbs wins invitational

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Most golfers participating in Saturday’s Madionsville-North Hopkins Invitational ended the day after their 18th hole, but the Maroons’ Patrick Hibbs played five more before he claimed sole possession of the tournament’s medalist title.

Hibbs and two other golfers finished with 74 and went to a sudden-death playoff format starting on the ninth hole. By the end of the 13th hole, Hibbs took top honors to go with North’s overall team victory on the day.

The tournament victory was coach Dan Hermann’s first in his four years at the school.

“I was thrilled,” Hermann said. “We started out slow, but they regrouped and came back and played really well.”

The Maroons’ great execution in the short game propelled the team to victory, Hermann said.

Through four holes of play Hibbs, however, said it was his drives that were helping him early.

“I’m hitting the ball off the tee all right and hitting the greens,” he said. “The putter’s not great right now. I just need to get my putter to work and I’ll be fine.”

Once Hibbs found his stroke on the green he collected his second medalist honor of the week. On Thursday, he also completed the feat in a tri-match against Christian County and Hopkinsville.

On Saturday, Hibbs turned it on down the stretch to force a playoff, but he nearly had to battle one of his teammates in extra holes.

“Daniel Stewart had a great round,” Hermann said. “He just kind of stumbled the last few holes or he would have been in the playoff for the top spot too.”

Stewart entered the clubhouse with a 77, second-best on the day for the Maroons. David Rose and Cliff Carter were not far behind with 81 and 82 respectively.

Ben Gatlin, who placed as a medalist Tuesday against Muhlenberg North, finished the day with an 88.

“Any day any one of them can shoot par.” Hermann said. “You just don’t know which one of them is going to do it. If one of them stumbles, it seems like one of them always steps up and plays.”

Joining North in the 15-team invitational was rival Hopkins County Central. The Storm turned in a team score of 392, led by junior Heath Williams.

After a double-bogey and bogey to start his round, Williams collected himself and recorded four straight pars followed by a birdie on the 15th hole.

Williams’ birdie came as a result of a solid iron shot on his second stroke.

From 150 yards out, Williams yelled “go, go, go,” as the ball sailed toward the elevated green.

Upon reaching the green, Williams discovered his shot had landed within six feet of the pin. After Williams knocked down the putt, he pumped his fist to celebrate his first birdie of the day.

By round’s end Williams finished with a team-best 87. Senior Collin Farmer trailed him by five strokes at 92.

Freshman Landon Griffith competed individually and turned in a card of 98. Joey Watkins (104), Andrew Schniepp (109) and Blake Nelson (114) rounded out the Storm golfers.

Central coach Daniel Kukahiko said he was impressed by the way his golfers handled the pressure of playing in an invitational, but as the day progressed it began to take a toll.

“We started off really well,” he said “I think as the day wore on they started to feel it a little bit and get frustrated with themselves. That made their scores rise a little more than they normally are.”

Central will not have much time to rest before its next match on Monday, but Kukahiko said he knows what areas need to be addressed.

“We’re going to start spending more time around the putting and chipping green during practice,” he said. “We’ll continue to get better.”

Dawson Springs High School rounded out the trio of county teams participating in Saturday’s event.

Senior Dylan Frost paced the Panthers with a 93, one week after posting an 88 against Hancock County.

Junior Aaron Labrado finished two strokes back at 95. Labrado improved his score by six shots since his previous performance at Hancock.

Eighth-grader Dillon Shelton also participated in the invitational – his first 18-hole varsity tournament.

Although Shelton’s competition literally stood feet above him, he remained positive.

“It feels pretty good (to be here),” he said. “I think I’m doing good for my age.”

Shelton said he felt good to get a shot at playing a full 18 holes and his focus was to hit the ball straight and keep it in the fairway.

Dawson Springs coach Jose Labrado admitted, however, that Lakeshore is a bit more challenging than Pennyrile Forest State Park Golf Course, where the Panthers practice.

“Lakeshore is a pretty tough course,” he said. “The speed of the greens is nothing like we’re used to. The Lakeshore Country Club compared to the park out at Pennyrile, they’re just lightning quick.”

Despite the more difficult course, Labrado said his golfers did well and will take lessons from the tournament.

“They were in the hunt to improve their individual scores and I do think the short game did help them,” he said.

Dawson Springs will host its own invitational Aug. 23 at Pennyrile Forest.