Haines third at SA invite

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GENEVA — He came up short by one stroke as a junior.

Collin Haines was shooting for the top spot in his final high school golf season.

Ask him what went wrong Saturday and he’s not afraid to say it.

His short game.

Haines, a Jay County High School senior, was the only player on his team to finish in double digits on Saturday as he placed third overall with an 82 in the South Adams Invitational at Wabash Valley Golf Club.

“It was just putting, that was it,” Haines said. “I had like five three-putts and I had no confidence on the greens at all. I hit the ball well, hit fairways. I just couldn’t putt worth a crap.

“I had really high expectations coming in here. I had myself convinced that I would win.”

David Muselman, a South Adams senior, was sixth overall with an 84, helping the Starfires finish with a team total of 458 for 10th out of 11 teams. Jay County, which was defending tournament champions, totaled 472 for last place.

Norwell scored 357 to win the team title, with Fremont (366) and Bellmont (376) finishing second and third respectively.

Haines began his round with a bogey on the 10th hole, and was 3-over par after the 14th. He then sandwiched two pars around a bogey, and made the turn at 4-over 39.

He tied Bluffton’s Spencer Schwartz for the second-lowest score on the back nine, one stroke behind Norwell’s Jacob Collins, Haines’ playing partner who tied for 52nd at the state finals last season.

Schwartz ended up shooting 78 to win the individual championship, and Collins was runner-up with 80.

The front nine gave Haines difficulty despite converting birdie on the par-4 second hole. He had five bogeys.

His biggest disappointment was the fact his putting has been letting him down so far this year even though it’s what he spent the most time trying to improve during the offseason.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I’ve been practicing a lot on our course. I’ve been putting really well lately so I wasn’t really worried about it at all. It was just short putts that got me. Five-footers that I didn’t have confidence in. I just have to work on them more I guess.

“I just need to gain confidence. I have no confidence in my short game right now, especially after today.”

Joey Hall was second on the Patriots with a 121. Tait Longsworth shot 134 for third on the team and Devin Harris had 135 to complete the team total.

Hall, Longsworth and Harris all made their 18-hole tournament debuts. Freshman Griffin Mann did not compete.

Like Haines, Muselman was the only member of the South Adams squad to break triple digits. He started strong by finishing the front nine with a 39, second only to Bluffton’s Cole Razo. He struggled on late in the round, settling for triple bogeys on both No. 16 and No. 17.

“Just a few bad swings there,” said SAHS coach Josh Hendrixson, noting Muselman had to hit out of the woods on both holes. “He was close to being in the 70s if he just takes away those bad shots.”

The end of his round, though, was not indicative of how Muselman has been playing his senior season.

“He’s really been hitting the ball well this year,” Hendrixson said. “The three matches we’ve had, his ball-striking has been there. He’s hitting a lot of fairways, hitting a lot of greens.

“When his putts are going down, he can shoot some low scores and I think we saw that today.”

Fellow senior Eli Hamrick was second for the Starfires with 118 as he edged freshman Blaine Harruff by one stroke. Braden Bixler, another freshman, completed the South Adams team total with 137.

Spencer Fear, the third and final starting freshman, also competed but his 147 did not factor into the team score.

“I definitely think they’re getting better,” Hendrixson said of his freshmen, two of whom had never played golf prior to this season. “We’re already seeing progress. I think some of them thought golf might be a little easier than what it is.”