Houck weathers weather

GENEVA — It was cold, and it was windy.
There was rain too.
But for the second time in as many outings, Jay Houck overcame the weather to shoot his best round of the season.
The Jay County High School sophomore shot a season-best 78 Saturday to win the South Adams Invitational at Golf Club of the Limberlost.
“It feels pretty good,” Houck said of his first career tournament victory. “There was good competition so I was happy to win. I thought I played pretty well.”
Jay County finished second as a team with a score of 366, one stroke higher than its season best of 365 it set April 18 at the Monroe Central Invitational. Northeastern won with a score of 354, and Bluffton was third with 373.
The host Starfires finished fifth with a score of 406.
“I thought all of them kept their composure no matter what the rain did,” JCHS coach Butch Gray said. The day began with a little rain but it didn’t last long. The precipitation picked up for the final four holes. “It was nice to see they are working their (scores) down.”
Houck began his round bogeying the first three holes before shooting even on back-to-back par 4s. He bogeyed the par-4 sixth and made par on the final three holes of the front nine for a 4-over 40. It was at that point he knew he would have a good score.
“After nine I?had a 40 and I knew I?had a chance to have a pretty good round,” said Houck, who broke 80 for the first time this season after posting scores of 83 and 82 respectively in the Yorktown Invitational and Monroe Central Invitational. “I?didn’t let that affect me. I?just wanted to play and see how it went.”
Houck made par on the 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th holes, and then birdied the 411-yard, par-4 16th.
As the rain started to pick up, Houck bogeyed the final two holes for a 7-over 78.
“I?was pretty pleased,”?Houck added. “I?just tried to stay away from the big numbers and stay away from out of bounds and hazards. I think I did a pretty good job.”
Gray has stressed throughout the years the importance of playing within 100 yards of the green, and Houck noted it was his short game that led to his tournament victory.
“I?think my short game was what probably helped me the most,”?he said. “Being able to get it up and down for par helped me out the most.”
Playing from the No. 4 spot, sophomore Nick?Hayden was second on the team with a 93. He made par on the seventh and eighth holes, and totaled 10 bogeys.
He finished 10th overall.
“He’s taking to heart what has been said (in practice) and it’s starting to pay off,”?said Gray.
Hayden’s previous season-low was a 100 at the Monroe Central Invitational.
Sophomore Kyler Hudson and junior Graham Haines turned in scores of 97 and 98 respectively. A 12 on the par-5 17 doomed Haines’ round.
His tee shot landed in a pile of leaves on the left side of the fairway near the out of bounds area. Without much room for a backswing, the right-hander opted for trying to punch it out left handed with the back of his iron. He hit the ball solidly, but it plunked a tree and went out of bounds.
Given the conditions, Gray said he was pleased with the play of Haines and Hudson, the Patriots’ No. 2 and 3 golfers.
“If they can get those down to the low 90s, high 80s I?will be very happy,” said Gray, whose team heads back to Geneva at 5 p.m. Tuesday for a four-team meet with South Adams, Leo and Adams Central.
Freshman Collin Haines also competed for Jay County, turning in a round of 108 out of the No. 5 spot.
While the weather was not ideal, Gray said he likes the improvement his team continues to show each time out on the course.
“We just have to stay there and get better,”?he said. “That’s the key to this game.”
South Adams freshman David Muselman made par four times on his way to a team-low 92. Sophomore Jacob Rife, the No. 1 golfer for SAHS, followed with a 99. Corbin Swygart, another sophomore, was third on the team with a 105 out of the fourth spot, and his classmate Marcus Teeter was fourth with a 110. Teeter birdied the 480-yard, par-4, the only birdie by a Starfire golfer.
South Adams’ No. 3 golfer Nick?Wurster was three strokes behind Teeter with a 113.