FRHS falls by three strokes

WINCHESTER — “Oh, no!”

That was the most used phrase by the Indian golfers Thursday.

After almost every drive, iron or wedge, the phrase was muttered.

Yet things never turned out quite so badly for the Indians.

A lot of saves helped keep the Fort Recovery High School boys golf team in their match against the Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks on Thursday afternoon on the Pony holes at Winchester Golf Club, but were ultimately edged out 162-165.

The “Oh, no!” shot was a staple of many players during the match, particularly including the top four golfers in the Indians lineup — Keegan Muhlenkamp, Reece LeFevre, Eli Lennartz and Nate Jutte. A prime example of one of those shots came on the fourth hole for Muhlenkamp.

The junior teed off on the 520-yard, par-5 when he shanked his drive off to the right, causing his ball to land on the opposite side of the fairway to hole No. 5 that ran parallel to the fourth going in the opposite direction.

Oh, no!

“Usually when we say, ‘Oh, no!’ directly after the shot, it's because we either hit it a little too far right or left where we just hit it right off the club,” Muhlenkamp said. “It’s not like it fades or draws, it initially starts in the wrong direction.”

That was the case for Muhlenkamp on this hole, but after the shot was over it didn’t phase him. Despite being nearly 200 yards off of the fairway to the right, he was able to track down his ball and analyze the situation and make a game plan to recover.

Rather than trying to hit back onto the fairway for hole No. 4, he decided to play the fifth hole backwards, hitting his second shot to the tee box for hole No. 5. One more shot and Muhlenkamp found himself on the green with a chance to birdie.

Although he left a pair of putts short resulting in a three-putt bogey, he saved the hole from being much worse by playing five backwards.

“Reece (LeFevre) and Keegan (Muhlenkamp) seemed to be making some really good decisions and making some good shots,” coach Dean Sanders said. “I would say a really important key about playing golf is making really good decisions. He seemed to keep the ball in play and cut back on penalty strokes.”

Clutch saves because of strong decision making helped Muhlenkamp to Fort Recovery’s low score of 39. He finished with three six pars and three bogeys. Muhlenkamp was one stroke off of match medalist, which went to Aron Hunt with a 38.

LeFevre was also a part of the foursome with Muhlenkamp and wasn’t immune to the “Oh, no!” shot himself. He seemingly subconsciously uttered the phrase three times during the 442-yard, par 5 hole No. 5.

LeFevre had a good drive off the tee. The ball flew straight. He didn’t hit it too high where the wind could affect it. Despite hitting it well, some poor luck struck when the ball splashed into some standing water, taking about 40 yards off the drive.

There was the first “Oh, no!”

When he got to the ball, he found that it had bounced just beyond the puddle it splashed in. His next shot flew to the left of the cart path, landing in the long grass of the rough and right in front of another puddle.

A second “Oh, no!”

The lie made for a difficult shot so that he didn’t catch too much water in his swing while still being able to dig the ball out of the grass.

“The water just slows down your club, it feels completely different,” LeFevre said. “It kind of feels like you just get hit by a brick wall when you swing.

“I had to change clubs just so I could make sure I get it through that through that tall grass and all the standing water and had a good good ship and once I got out of the water and got up and down.”

He executed the shot to get ahold of his ball, but sent it sailing beyond the green.

The final “Oh, no!”

LeFevre was able to come back with a solid chip to put the ball near the cup and then tapped in for par. He finished with Fort Recovery’s second-best score of 41.

Matthew Romer scored out of the sixth position totaling 42 strokes, and Nate Jutte’s 43 rounded out the team score.

Also participating in the match but not contributing to the final were Eli Lennartz (45) and Alex Dues (47).

While Mississinawa Valley didn’t have enough golfers for a full JV match, three Indians were able to get some work in. Caleb Smith shot the best of the three with a 50 while Drew Back had a 51 and Riley Grieshop had a 53.

“I'm really proud of the guys. We shot very well tonight,” Sanders said. “We have a great nucleus of guys that really can play great golf.”