Houck misses regional

FARMLAND — One stroke.
As the second to last group off the course at Hickory Hills Golf Club in the golf sectional on Monday, Jay County High School sophomore Jay Houck was in contention.
No, not for the tournament championship. Muncie Central’s Keenan Bronnenberg, part of the last group off the course, claimed that with a 71.
Houck’s 83 was third on non-qualifying teams, behind Daleville’s Kaleb Rench (81) and Wapahani’s Bryant Woodward (82).
The top three teams and top three individuals advance to regional.
Yorktown claimed the team championship with a score of 303. Delta was runner-up with a 333, edging Muncie Central by one stroke.
“It made me kind of anxious,” said Houck, who led the Patriots to a team score of 354 and a fifth-place finish.
The anxiety turned to disappointment, as Wapahani’s Connor Hensley — he was in Bronnenberg’s group — turned in a round of 76, pushing Houck to fourth place.
One stroke.
“I had played with (Hensley) before,” Houck said. “I figured he was going to shoot pretty low. Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for me, he did.”
“Missing (regional) by one stroke makes it even tougher sometimes,” said JCHS coach Butch Gray. “He could probably go back and tell you different places of where he could have made it up.”
One of those could be the 414-yard, par-4 ninth, the final hole of the day for the Patriots.
His drive went into a bush near the right side of the fairway. After deliberating whether or not to swing backhanded, Houck chose to forgo that attempt, pushed his rear-end into the shrub and punched it out of trouble. His third stroke came to rest to the left of the green about 25 feet away from the pin. His par attempt from there lipped out, and he had to settle for bogey.
“It looked pretty good,” Houck said, unaware at the time of the shot it might have cost him a berth in regional. “I thought it was going in. My luck that it didn’t.”
Jay County started on the back nine, and Houck had a 4-over-par 39 at the turn. He began his round with a double bogey on the par-3 10th, but a birdie on the par-4 11th and three consecutive pars put him at 1-over through six. He bogeyed the par-3 15th and made up the stroke with a birdie on the par-5 16th.
He wasn’t able to keep the consistency on the front side.
“I hit one out of bounds on the front and from there it just wasn’t really clicking,” Houck aid. “I couldn’t get up and down for par like I could on the back.”
He finished the front nine with a 44.
“Mentally I think I got out of it a little bit,” he said.
Jay County’s No. 2 golfer, Graham Haines, made par four times and was two strokes behind Houck after nine holes.
Haines, a junior, double bogeyed back-to-back holes to start the front, and was 5-over through three before making his only birdie of the round on the par-4 fourth.
He lucked out on the par-4 fifth, as his second shot plunked the top of a moving golf cart. Had he not hit the roof, the ball would have likely come to rest behind a tree. The fortuitous bounce gave him a clear shot at the green — albeit from the rough.
His subsequent chip shot stopped on the fringe just short of the green. He two-putted for bogey, and eventually finished with an 85.
Nick Hayden, the Patriots’ No. 4, shot a 90 for the third-best score on the team. He made par three times on the back nine for a 44, and followed it up with a 46 on the front.
Kyler Hudson closed out the team score with a 94, having made par five times. Collin Haines, Graham’s younger brother, also competed, shooting a 95.
Without a senior on the roster, Gray is optimistic the experience Monday is something the Patriots can springboard into next season.
“(It’s been a) tough season all year,” he said. “Hope we learn because the way it looks everyone is coming back next year.
“Hopefully they learn from their mistakes and everyone is ready to go.”