July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Jay blasts Southside (09/06/07)
JCHS girls golf
Jay blasts Southside (09/06/07)
By By RAY COONEY-
It's easy to tell the Patriots are having a dream season when they post their No. 3 score of the year and are still not satisfied.
The Jay County High School girls golf team tallied a 184 Wednesday, easily topping the Olympic Athletic Conference rival Muncie Southside Rebels (214).
"The bottom dropped out of this team (last week)," said JCHS coach Tom Ferguson, whose squad shot a school record 176 last week at Winchester Golf Club. "They've been working hard and they continue to get better and better. This is the lowest team score on our home course ... in a long time."
The team's best score in a dual meet a year ago was 193, and it had not been below 195 this season before breaking through for the school-record round. Each of the last four rounds has been 190 or better, including three out of four under 185.
The Patriots are now 8-1, and would break the school record for winning percentage in a season - 12-2, .857 - with victories in their final three matches. And still two of Wednesday's top four - Trisha Champ, who earned match medalist honors, and Jennifer Hunt - walked away believing they left some shots on the course Wednesday.
"Trisha's not happy with her 37. Jennifer Hunt's not happy with her 49," said Ferguson. "They shot well tonight, well below their average, and they're still not happy with where they're at, so that's a good thing."
Alex Bunch came through for the Patriots in her first varsity round since early in the year, rallying after a slow start.
The junior, who opened on No. 9 at Portland Golf Club, had matching 7s on her first two holes - both par 4s. But it was smooth sailing after that as she turned in three consecutive bogies on two, three and four. She added bogies on the 401-yard, par-5 sixth hole and the 119-yard, par-3 eighth for a career-best round of 50.
"She avoided the big hole tonight. She avoided the 8s, 9s and 10s," said Ferguson. "She's getting more consistent. She didn't knock down any pars tonight, but she had two bogies on the par 3s, which really helps."
Ivy Simons had the other highlight of the evening, and it came on her first hole.
Simons turned in her first birdie in competition on No. 1 - a 275-yard par-4 - and added a par on the 290-yard, par-4 fourth. She also had three bogies in her round to finish one stroke short of matching her career best with a 48.
"She was pretty excited," said Ferguson of the birdie for Simons, who was one stroke behind Muncie Southside's top effort of 47 from Kacy Bennett. "That's really good, because she's not a long-ball hitter. ...
"Ivy is getting more consistent all the time. If she can get off the tee well, she's going to have a low score."
Champ, who broke her own school record with a 2-under-par round a week ago, seemed headed for red numbers again. She also birdied the first hole and then had back-to-back pars.
After driving the green on the dogleg left, 290-yard, par-4 fourth hole, she narrowly missed an eagle putt before tapping in for birdie to move to 2-under. Another par on No. 5 had her in position to make a run at the record, but some bad luck on sixth cut off the opportunity.
The senior ripped her drive to within 150 yards on the 401-yard, par-5, but miss-hit her second shot and it ended up out of bounds. She settled for a double-bogey and closed with a 2-over-par 37.
"She was playing great and then she had a great drive on No. 6 and she was ... in great position," said Ferguson. "She just missed it and it went a little bit left and a little bit low and it took a bad bounce off the left of the green and rolled an inch-and-a-half out of bounds. ...
"It was a good round for her without a doubt, but an inch-and-a-half from a great round. That's golf."
Hunt had not shot 50 or better until last week, but felt she could have played better despite shooting in the 40s for the third time in her last four rounds. She had her lone par on No. 8 to go along with three bogies as she totaled a 49 despite having difficulty on the greens.
"Jennifer is on the verge of mid-40s all the time now," said Ferguson. "Tonight her putter just wasn't going evidently. To have 25 putts and still break 50, that's amazing."
Cara Garringer was in the midst of a solid round as she needed just 34 strokes through her first six holes, but struggled on the final three to a 58.
Junior varsity
Brittany Schlater and Rachel Osterholt each shot 55 to lead Jay County to a score of 226. The Rebels did not have a junior varsity squad.
Schlater parred No. 1 on the way to her team-best score, and Osterholt had four bogies. Macey Gerber went bogey-par on the first and second holes at PGC for a 57, and Amy Nichols completed the team score with a 59.
Abbey Denney shot 60, and Holly Rittenhouse finished at 69.[[In-content Ad]]
The Jay County High School girls golf team tallied a 184 Wednesday, easily topping the Olympic Athletic Conference rival Muncie Southside Rebels (214).
"The bottom dropped out of this team (last week)," said JCHS coach Tom Ferguson, whose squad shot a school record 176 last week at Winchester Golf Club. "They've been working hard and they continue to get better and better. This is the lowest team score on our home course ... in a long time."
The team's best score in a dual meet a year ago was 193, and it had not been below 195 this season before breaking through for the school-record round. Each of the last four rounds has been 190 or better, including three out of four under 185.
The Patriots are now 8-1, and would break the school record for winning percentage in a season - 12-2, .857 - with victories in their final three matches. And still two of Wednesday's top four - Trisha Champ, who earned match medalist honors, and Jennifer Hunt - walked away believing they left some shots on the course Wednesday.
"Trisha's not happy with her 37. Jennifer Hunt's not happy with her 49," said Ferguson. "They shot well tonight, well below their average, and they're still not happy with where they're at, so that's a good thing."
Alex Bunch came through for the Patriots in her first varsity round since early in the year, rallying after a slow start.
The junior, who opened on No. 9 at Portland Golf Club, had matching 7s on her first two holes - both par 4s. But it was smooth sailing after that as she turned in three consecutive bogies on two, three and four. She added bogies on the 401-yard, par-5 sixth hole and the 119-yard, par-3 eighth for a career-best round of 50.
"She avoided the big hole tonight. She avoided the 8s, 9s and 10s," said Ferguson. "She's getting more consistent. She didn't knock down any pars tonight, but she had two bogies on the par 3s, which really helps."
Ivy Simons had the other highlight of the evening, and it came on her first hole.
Simons turned in her first birdie in competition on No. 1 - a 275-yard par-4 - and added a par on the 290-yard, par-4 fourth. She also had three bogies in her round to finish one stroke short of matching her career best with a 48.
"She was pretty excited," said Ferguson of the birdie for Simons, who was one stroke behind Muncie Southside's top effort of 47 from Kacy Bennett. "That's really good, because she's not a long-ball hitter. ...
"Ivy is getting more consistent all the time. If she can get off the tee well, she's going to have a low score."
Champ, who broke her own school record with a 2-under-par round a week ago, seemed headed for red numbers again. She also birdied the first hole and then had back-to-back pars.
After driving the green on the dogleg left, 290-yard, par-4 fourth hole, she narrowly missed an eagle putt before tapping in for birdie to move to 2-under. Another par on No. 5 had her in position to make a run at the record, but some bad luck on sixth cut off the opportunity.
The senior ripped her drive to within 150 yards on the 401-yard, par-5, but miss-hit her second shot and it ended up out of bounds. She settled for a double-bogey and closed with a 2-over-par 37.
"She was playing great and then she had a great drive on No. 6 and she was ... in great position," said Ferguson. "She just missed it and it went a little bit left and a little bit low and it took a bad bounce off the left of the green and rolled an inch-and-a-half out of bounds. ...
"It was a good round for her without a doubt, but an inch-and-a-half from a great round. That's golf."
Hunt had not shot 50 or better until last week, but felt she could have played better despite shooting in the 40s for the third time in her last four rounds. She had her lone par on No. 8 to go along with three bogies as she totaled a 49 despite having difficulty on the greens.
"Jennifer is on the verge of mid-40s all the time now," said Ferguson. "Tonight her putter just wasn't going evidently. To have 25 putts and still break 50, that's amazing."
Cara Garringer was in the midst of a solid round as she needed just 34 strokes through her first six holes, but struggled on the final three to a 58.
Junior varsity
Brittany Schlater and Rachel Osterholt each shot 55 to lead Jay County to a score of 226. The Rebels did not have a junior varsity squad.
Schlater parred No. 1 on the way to her team-best score, and Osterholt had four bogies. Macey Gerber went bogey-par on the first and second holes at PGC for a 57, and Amy Nichols completed the team score with a 59.
Abbey Denney shot 60, and Holly Rittenhouse finished at 69.[[In-content Ad]]
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