DeRome advances

FARMLAND — Caleb DeRome had a 71 through 17 holes.

Christian Groves of Yorktown was sitting at 70 to lead the field.

As the pair (along with Jabob Bilby of Delta) strolled up to the 18th and final hole, DeRome needed to be perfect and needed a mistake from Groves.

DeRome wouldn’t get so lucky as his bogey and Groves’ par solidified him as the sectional runner-up.

DeRome earned a regional berth as he finished with a team-best 77 Monday while the Jay County High School boys golf team fell 12 strokes short of advancing to the regional tournament as it shot a 347 in the IHSAA Sectional 19 tournament at Hickory Hills Golf Course.

“That’s the game of golf,” JCHS coach Dave Haines said. “Anyone who plays the game knows it’s a simple game but it’s not an easy game. … I told them two things before we started – keep the ball in play and don’t three put. If they did that, I knew that we would be able to advance to regionals. I think the short game — whether they three-putted or it took two chips to get on the green — just didn’t go well.”

Yorktown, which is coached by JCHS graduate Nathan McClung, won the tournament with a 321 while Delta’s 328 and Winchester’s 335 also earned them berths to the regional tournament Thursday at The Players Club at Woodland Trails in Yorktown. The top three teams and top three individuals not on advancing teams earn regional berths.

Joining DeRome in earning individual spots in the regional were Landon Rabenstein (81) of Wapahani and Coltan West (84) of Monroe Central.

DeRome will tee off at 8:10 a.m. Thursday.

“It feels good,” DeRome said. “I knew that I was probably going to regional on the 18th hole. I was really hoping that the Yorktown kid would duff one in the water so I could win the sectional, but that was about it.”

To begin the 570-yard, par-5 18th hole, DeRome smacked his ball about 225 yards, but it sailed right and dangerously close to the pond on the left side of the fairway, stopping just about 15 yards short.

He smacked his second shot over the water, to bring his ball back to the middle of the fairway and only 140 yards away from the flag. His next shot landed a few feet short of the fringe before his chip came up short of the hole.

When trying to putt for par, his ball rolled around the lip of the cup before spinning out and resting next to the hole. He tapped in for bogey.

Groves' start to the 18th wasn’t as smooth. His ball sliced right where it landed on the rough of hole No. 9, and his second shot didn’t help his cause much either. From there, he was able to redeem himself and secure par to finish with a 75, just two strokes better than DeRome.

DeRome didn’t have the best start to the match, shooting bogeys on six of the first eight holes before he broke through with his first birdie of the day on the 395-yard, par-4 ninth hole.

“I had a bad start today,” DeRome said. “A little bit better on the front and I would have easily won this.

“I got a little nervous on the front. As I got settled in, I got less nervous and I started playing better.”

The back nine was smoother for DeRome, who parred on five holes and notched another birdie in his best hole of the day. He began the 503-yard, par-5 16th hole with a stripe down the fairway that sat 220 yards from the pin. His second shot landed him on the green with three more attempts before he would hit par.

His first putt came up just short of the hole, but his second fell in for birdie.

The Patriots’ next best scorer was Gage Sims, who shot an 87, three strokes short of a regional berth.

Sims started his day with a birdie on the first hole, but struggled after, only parring on the third, fourth, 14th and 15th holes. On the 14th hole, Sims made it to the green in two shots and took two putts to sink his ball, while he hit the green off his drive on the 15th hole before two putts got his ball to drop.

“Mostly it was mental to be honest with you,” Sims said. “It’s a shorter course and overall it’s tight off the tee. The greens are very sloped and overall, it’s pretty difficult but honestly I just left a lot of things on the table. I didn’t hit any greens, wasn’t chipping close and had a lot of problems.”

The Patriots’ third-leading scorer was Cody DeHoff with a 90, while Liam Garringer’s 93 rounded out Jay County’s score. DeHoff birdied the par-3 fourth hole.

Luke Fugiett’s score of 98 did not count to the team’s score.

“There’s a lot of things from this year, I think I know how to coach each individual a little better next year,” Haines said. “Things they need to work on individually but just have to look to next year now.”