Indians pick up MAC win

The Indians lost their first match by three strokes.

They fell by seven in their second.

Third time was the charm for the Indians.

Fort Recovery High School’s boys golf team picked up their first win of the season as they defeated Midwest Athletic Conference foe Parkway Panthers 167-203 Monday at Portland Golf Club.

“We came out with a victory for both the varsity and JV,” coach Dean Sanders said. “Real happy with how well they played. Obviously the rainy night was a little bit of a factor but yet, the guys still shot very well.”

It had rained in Portland earlier in the day and it started to drizzle a handful of times while the players were out on the course, but that didn’t stop Alex Dues from having his best match of the young season.

Dues was slated as Sanders’ No. 6 on Monday. He started the match on the 498-yard, par-5 12th hole, but didn’t come out of the gates cleanly.

“Started off a little rough,” Dues said. “I got a double bogey on the first hole. Then right after that I started heating up a little.”

Dues followed up the rough start with a bogey. He then proceeded to rip off four pars in a row on holes No. 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Dues attributes the success to some mechanical changes Sanders has worked on in practice with him.

“I’m just really slowing down my swing and staying balanced the whole time,” Dues said.

After adding another bogey on the 18th hole, he did some math to find out that if he parred out he would finish under 40.

The 10th hole went perfectly for Dues. He drove his ball around 200 yards smack-dab down the middle of the fairway. He hit his iron to place the ball onto the green where he left a putt short before he tapped in for par.

The 11th wasn’t so kind to him.

His first shot came off the tee left and into the fairway of the 10th hole. His second shot brought him back a couple of yards off the green to keep his hopes alive for a par.

He duffed his chip, leaving his ball too far from the hole to guarantee a par.

Dues played a line on the right and his ball broke well, but it didn’t have the legs to make it to the hole. He tapped his ball in for a bogey to end his match at 40.

Although he didn’t break 40, the score was enough to make him the match medalist. It was also his best score on the season. In the Mercer County Meet, he shot a 97 (48.5 strokes per nine holes) and finished with 47 against Mississinawa Valley.

“Alex is one of our veteran golfers,” Sanders said. “We knew he was due for a good round. A little bit of struggles earlier in the season, but yet we knew at some point he’d break through with this score. We expect Alex to keep shooting at that level.”

Parkway’s No. 5, Mason Schumm had the team-low of 49 for the Panthers.

Keegan Muhlenkamp had the Indians’ (1-2, 1-0 MAC) next-best score with a 41. Muhlenkamp had been struggling throughout the day on the greens.

“I can’t say I was on every hole in regulation, but if I wasn’t, I was close,” Muhlenkamp said. 

“I would put a good chip to it, get it within 10 feet and miss the putt every time for a bogey."

Despite his struggles on the green, Muhlenkamp never shot more than 1-over par. He found his only par on the 344-yard, par-4 17th hole. He was in some serious danger of going over a bogey on his final hole of the day.

His drive didn’t quite land where he wanted on the 12th hole. Frustration was starting to take over.

“It was crazy,” Muhlenkamp said. “I'm playing really bad. …

“All of a sudden, I was 107 yards out, I take the eight iron, and He blesses me well enough to where I can put the ball within 4 feet, and make the birdie putt.”

Nate Jutte and Reece LeFevre rounded out the Indians’ score with a 42 and 44, respectively. Both had pars on holes No. 11, 13 and 16. 

Eli Lennartz and Matthew Romer both shot 47s, not factoring into the team’s final score.

Fort Recovery’s JV team beat Parkway 223-233. Sage Wendel shot the low of 49.

“Our guys have been playing well and we are seeing a lot of progress from our JV guys,” Sanders said. “We do expect the guys to continue performing at a high level and getting better and better as the year goes on.”