Jay finishes strong for ninth

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FARMLAND — Through two seasons at the varsity level, Devin Harris had yet to shoot better than 50 for a 9-hole round.

In what turned out to be the final tournament of his junior season, he was able to do just that. And had the best 18-hole match of his career.

His teammates played better on the back nine as well.

Harris and his Jay County High School boys golf team all rebounded from their struggles on the front nine to shoot better on the back as the Patriots finished ninth in the IHSAA boys golf sectional tournament Monday at Hickory Hills Golf Club.

Yorktown knocked off two-time defending sectional champion Muncie Central by firing 315 to win the team title. Wapahani and Muncie Central both had scores of 330, but Wapahani edged out the Bearcats by the fifth-score tiebreaker as Nick Jackson shot a 93 compared to Collin Young’s 96.

Wapahani’s Caleb Wright shot 4-over par 74 for the individual championship.

Jay County finished with a score of 415 to take ninth out of 12 scoring teams.

“It’s not where we wanted to see our score at the beginning of the season,” said JCHS coach Ryan Steinbrunner, whose team had to play the final two weeks of the season without its top golfer Griffin Mann, who broke his pinky finger and had to have it surgically repaired.

“I would have liked to see us break 400 at sectional as our (preseason) goal, but we were without our No. 1 golfer from injury. The way we played the last couple of weeks, without Griffin until now, I’m extremely happy with that score.”

Harris, the Patriots’ No. 2 golfer for the day, began his round with back-to-back triple bogeys and later made the turn at 55. He bogeyed 10, made par on 11 and bogeyed 12, a much better start to the back nine than hours earlier when he started.

After consecutive double bogeys, Harris bogeyed his final four holes and headed back to the clubhouse with a 45 for the back nine and a round of 100, both of which were his best marks of the career.

“There’s a kid that a couple weeks ago was in a huge slump and wasn’t sure he wanted to be out here golfing,” Steinbrunner said. “Came out here today and played the back nine as his best nine of his season, best nine of his career and (he’s) just overjoyed to do that.

“I love seeing him do that.”

Kyle Sanders, a freshman, posted the top score for the Patriots. He had par once during his first nine holes and made the turn at 48. Although he shot an identical 48 on the back nine to lead the team with a 96, he played better down the stretch than at the beginning. He made par on each of the 14th, 15th and 16th holes.

With exception for Sanders, each member of Jay County had lower 9-hole scores on the back nine compared to the front. The five Patriots totaled 285 on the front nine and were 25 strokes better on the back.

“They were relaxed,” Steinbrunner said of the difference in performances. “A lot of them are young (and) came out a little nervous. It was a little easy to see the nerves running the first few holes.

“They’re learning. They played their best rounds of the year on the back nine and that’s fun to watch.”

Joey Hall, the team’s lone senior, capped his career with a 109.

“He shot his career-low score in his last match as a senior,” Steinbrunner said, smiling. “Can’t ask for anything better than that.”

Freshman Seth Wilson was six strokes better on the back than he was the front in finishing with 110, which rounded out the team total.

Fellow freshman Matthew Hall shot 130 but did not factor into the overall score.