Golfers fifth at sectional

FARMLAND — Once again, the Patriots finished fifth.
And for the second consecutive year, Jay Houck narrowly missed a regional berth.
Houck shot an 11-over par 83 in leading the Jay County High School boys golf team to a fifth-place finish Monday in the sectional tournament at Hickory Hills Golf Club.
“There were some strokes that I would have liked to have back, but you have that every round,” said Houck, who was two strokes off the final individual regional qualifying spot. The top three teams and three best individuals not on advancing teams earn a regional berth.
Keegan Bronnenberg of Muncie Central defeated Yorktown’s Blake Vise in a two-hole playoff for the individual sectional championship, but it was Vise’s Tiger team that got the last laugh as Yorktown won the team title with a 300. Bronneberg’s Bearcats finished second at 319, and Delta was third with a 321.
Three Wapahani golfers — Jourdan Hall (74), Connor Hensley (80) and Bryant Woodard (81) — all qualified for regional in leading the Raiders with a team score of 324 for fourth.
Jay County totaled 341 for the third time this season, and JCHS coach Butch Gray noted the consistency of the five Patriots who returned from last season’s team that was also fifth at sectional.
“We’ve been a 340 team for 18-hole matches,” said Gray. In five 18-hole tournaments this season, Jay County has shot in the 340s four times, including April 16 on this same course during the Monroe Central Invitational.
After nine holes, Jay County totaled 166 strokes to sit in fourth, behind Yorktown (152), Wapahani (155) and Muncie Central (159). As the gusty winds picked up as golfers got deeper in the tournament, it made the consistency from the back nine difficult to carry over into the front nine.
“This course can be really difficult when the wind blows,” said Gray.
For example, on the 414-yard, par-4 ninth, Houck hit his tee shot straight and through an alley of trees, but once it cleared them a left-to-right wind caught his ball and carried it off the right side of the fairway.
But he was able to recover, ending his round with a birdie.
About 100 yards away from the pin, Houck punched his second shot under trees and it stopped rolling 25 yards from the cup. His approach shot bounced up the green, hit the pin and briefly sat lodged between it and the hole before falling in for a birdie.
“Overall I was pretty content with how the round went,” he said. “It would have been nice to move on (to regional) as a team or an individual, but you don’t always get what you want.”
And missing regional in back-to-back seasons by the closest of margins didn’t frustrate the even-keeled Houck.
“Well they’re both so close it’s hard to say which was more disappointing,” he said. “But I’m not going to let it get to me or bother me.”
Graham Haines, the only senior on the squad, closed out his high school career with a season-best 84. Like Houck, he said he feels he could have scored lower.
“All in all I feel like I had a pretty decent round,” he said. “But I still feel like I could have done so much better. It really came down to small mistakes that I made on the front nine.”
The Patriots started on the back nine, and Haines had a 40 at the turn.
“I think my driving was the most inconsistent part of my game today, and I got myself into trouble because of that,” he said. “Obviously we were hoping to make it to regional but I feel content with how the season ended.”
Collin Haines, Graham’s sophomore brother, was third on the team with an 86, and it could have been much worse if not for a few fortuitous bounces on the par-3 eighth.
A pond separates the green from the tee box, and Haines’ tee shot was straight at the cup but low. It skipped across the pond three times before bouncing up the edge of the water and coming to rest about 15 yards from the edge of the green. His birdie chip was 3 inches short and he tapped in to save par.
Junior Nick Hayden completed the Patriots’ team score with an 88, his second-best score this season after totaling 83 in the Allen County Athletic Conference meet May 21.
Kyler Hudson, a junior, was Jay County’s fifth golfer and he finished with a 101.