JC golf struggles on home course

The Patriots’ home course was not kind on Thursday.
Jay County High School’s golf team placed third in a meet with the Bellmont Braves and Bluffton Tigers.
“I know they can all go back and look at penalty strokes,” said JCHS coach Butch Gray, whose team totaled 180. The Braves won with a score of 172, and Bluffton was second, beating Jay County by one stroke.
“I think the kids are physically and mentally tired,” Gray said, noting his team has had six matches in 12 days. “It’s probably a good thing they have (Friday) night off and Saturday off.”
Jay Houck led the Patriots with a 43, even though he struggled on the par 5s. He began his round on the 498-yard, par-5 12th, shooting a triple bogey before making par on 13. He followed that up with a double bogey and bogey on 14 and 15, then made par on three consecutive holes.
On the 354-yard, par-4 16th, Houck’s second shot from about 90 yards sailed long, coming to rest at the back right of the green. He chipped his third shot 10 feet from the cup, and sank the putt to save par.
On the par-4 10th, the sophomore hit his second shot into the Little Salamonie River for a penalty stroke.
Houck’s fourth shot reached the green to the left of the cup, and he played the downslope perfectly to make bogey.
Two days after shooting a career-best 39, Kyler Hudson shot a 45 for the Patriots’ No. 2 score. Aside from a double bogey, a triple bogey and two pars, the sophomore played bogey golf. Hudson had a shot for a third par on the 150-yard, par-3 13th, but his par putt was left 4 feet short, and his bogey attempt missed just to the left of the cup.
Graham Haines, a junior, and his freshman brother Collin turned in matching rounds of 46 to close out Jay County’s team score. Bellmont’s Grant Ainsworth earned match medalist honors with a 4-over 39.
Playing from the No. 2 spot, Graham finished with par on two holes — the par-4 11th and the par-3 18th. His tee shot on 18 landed just off the green on the fringe behind the hole, and his subsequent chip shot was 2 feet short. He found himself once again at the fringe behind the green on 11. For a chance at birdie, his chip was three 3 feet long.
Collin made par once, doing so on 18. Nick Hayden finished with a 47, and birdied the 344-yard par-4 17th, the only birdie of the night for Jay County.
“I know they’re working hard, and they’re doing everything they have to do,” Gray said. All five Patriots were visibly frustrated many times during their rounds, upset with the way they were playing. “We’re to the little things — 100-yards in.
“We just have to gut it out. We have the push now for the (Allen County Athletic Conference meet) on (May 23) and the sectional. I said at the beginning of the year, the thing I was worried about was the end of the year. You always want — I don’t care what you’re coaching — to perform your best come sectional time.”