Friday, September 26, 2008
The Madisonville-North Hopkins’ boys golf team captured the Hopkins County team title Thursday evening at Madisonville Golf and Country Club, but two individuals made claims on the individual medalist honors.
North’s Cliff Carter and Hopkins County Central golfer Heath Williams both shot 37, the only sub-40 scores on the day, but the Maroons as a team did not have a single golfer over 41 and defeated both the Storm and Dawson Springs Panthers.
The Maroons combined to finish with a team score of 158 to Central’s 177 and Dawson Springs at 218.
North coach Dan Herrmann said he’s pleased with his team’s progress from last season.
“Last year, if we shot in the 160s we were really happy,” he said. “They’ve come up a level this year. The Ryder Cup and the county match that we play this time of the year is important to us. If we have a sub-par year as long as we do well this week, we’re really pretty happy about it.”
This season, North won both the Ryder Cup against Central and the Hopkins County match after losing both events in 2007.
Many of North’s players admitted having difficulty with their putting skills on Thursday, but evidence was hard to find in their score cards.
“They struggled with putting today from what I saw, but I can’t complain about a 158,” Herrmann said.
One player who did not have any problems on the green was the Maroons’ Carter.
“I was hitting putts pretty much from everywhere,” he said. “The cup looked like it was huge. I just read the greens pretty well. I was getting some lucky bounces and hitting them.”
For North and Central, Thursday’s match marked the third time in four days the teams faced each other. With many golfers at each school growing up together and in close contact, bragging rights often play a big role when matching up at the course.
North’s Ben Gatlin requested to face a former youth baseball teammate in Central’s Williams.
“He said he was going to wax me on the first tee box, I didn’t really say anything,” Williams said.
Although Gatlin shot an impressive 41, Williams got the best of him and ended the days four strokes better.
“It’s a pretty good rivalry, but it’s a friendly rivalry,” Herrmann said.
As for Dawson Springs, Panther golfer Dylan Frost turned in the team’s best performance with a 41.
Arguably Frost’s best shot of the day came on the par-three seventh when he nailed a nearly 30-foot putt.
The putt, which began at the fringe of the green, slowly trickled downhill toward the cup and went in to save par.
“I thought it was going to stop,” Frost said. “I just got up there and just hit and it kept going. I thought it was going to stop, then it went in. I felt real good.”
Also contributing for Dawson Springs was Aaron Labrado (49), Justin Bullock (62), Grant McCuiston (66) and Dillon Shelton (72).
For Central, behind Williams was Collin Farmer. Despite shooting a 10 on the sixth hole, Farmer collected six pars – three to start and three to finish – and ended the day with a 43.
Storm golfer Blake Nelson turned in a 47 while Landon Griffith and Andrew Schniepp turned in a pair of even 50s.
Thursday’s match marked the end of the regular season, and Central coach Daniel Kukahiko said his team must maintain its focus now.
“It is do or die next week,” he said. “This is our last match, we’ll practice a couple days. We’ll have a practice round. We’ve seen the course before, but we’re going to see it one last time, make our preparations and try to go play the best golf we can on Tuesday.”
North’s Patrick Hibbs and Daniel Stewart each completed their days with 40 while David Rose shot 41.
As for Herrmann, he said he’s proud of his boys mental approach after being down about their poor putting.
“I like the fact that they don’t feel they played well when they really played pretty good,” he said. “When they feel like they don’t play well, they always come back and play better the next time, so our next time is regional. Hopefully, we’re peaking at the right time.”
Carter also thinks Tuesday’s regional could become a special memory.
“I think we’re playing pretty well,” he said. “We have a chance to win it, a great chance to win it.”
All three Hopkins County teams will practice as they await region. First tee-off will be 8 a.m. Tuesday at Ben Hawes State Park.
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