Byrum’s berth

FARMLAND — The Patriots graduated one of the best boys golfers to come through the program.

Still, the Patriots will have representation at the regional.

Griffin Bryum clinched a regional berth out of the No. 3 position, but it wasn’t enough to get the Jay County High School boys golf team to a top-three finish in the IHSAA Sectional 19 hosted by Monroe Central and Hickory Hills Golf Club on Tuesday as they finished fourth.

Only the top three scoring teams advanced to the Regional 4 hosted by Muncie Central at The Players Club on Thursday, while the top three individuals not on advancing squads also earned berths. The Patriots finished fourth with 347 strokes, while Delta claimed the final regional berth with 333. Yorktown blew away the field with a 294 to claim the sectional crown over host Monroe Central with 321.

While Jay County won’t be advancing as a team, it tied its season-best score for an 18-hole match that it previously set at the Winchester Invitational. In the other three 18-hole matches, the Patriots shot a 410 at the Yorktown Invitational and put up 370s at the South Adams Invitational and the Allen County Athletic Conference Championship.

“I’m happy with how we played,” said JCHS coach Jay Houck. “That was up there with our best scores for 18-hole matches. We came a long way since the first match of the year. I think we shot a 410, so definitely had some improvement there.

“It looked like putting was the biggest challenge from what I could see with the guys. They said they had some four putts and three putts and if you can clean that up, it’ll help your score out a lot.”

Even though his teammates are done for the year, Byrum will get the chance to play at the regional after posting one of the top three scores of the players not on advancing teams. The senior pulled off a round of 83, which finished as part of a four-way tie for 10th overall with Delta’s Cooper Bratton, who advanced with his team, Dylan Dodd of Wapahani and Cowan’s Dawson Goney. (Dodd and Goney advanced to the regional as individuals alongside Bryum.)

“It feels pretty good,” Byrum said. “I never expected to (advance) but I play this course a lot. It's actually the course I probably play the most.”

Bryum follows Caleb DeRome, who qualified for the regional three years as an individual and once as a team. DeRome also became the first sectional medalist for Jay County last season, a title that went to Yorktown’s Marshall Johnston with a 68 this year.

Bryum didn’t have a flashy round, but he also never shot anything worse than a bogey on the day.

Jay County High School’s Griffin Byrum watches his putt as it rolls towards the No. 8 hole at Hickory Hills Golf Club during Tuesday’s IHSAA Sectional 19 match. Byrum never shot worse than a bogey as he was one of the top three golfers not on an advancing team, earning him a regional berth with a round of 83. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

He started his round with a pair of bogeys before making par on hole No. 12. Two more bogeys came before a second par on the 15th hole. Byrum then rattled off 11 consecutive bogeys before coming up to the 152-yard, par-3 eighth hole. His drive put him 10 yards beside the green on the right and the following chip was online to put him within five feet of the hole. He then converted the short putt for the first of two pars to finish off the round.

“It was really just bogey golf and every now and then I’d pick up a par,” Bryum said. “I don’t normally hit my driver well, but I drove the ball well and hit my irons well. I find this course to be pretty easy, but putting was kind of hard today.”

While Byrum occasionally struggled with putting on a certain hole, he would get the job done before it could turn into a double-bogey or worse.

The other Patriots were not so lucky, especially the closer to the hole they were. On hole No. 8, Dominick Bright and Dawson Goldsworthy both had putts within 12 feet for bogey, while Tucker Griffin and Cody DeHoff made the green on their second shots.

Griffin, who finished one stroke away from tying for a regional berth at 84, had his putt miss by eight inches before tapping in for bogey. DeHoff’s first putt ran long by about three feet and his second missed by just one inch before he tapped in for double-bogey.

Goldworthy’s putt from 25 feet left in two feet short before his putt missed by one inch, forcing a tap in for double-bogey. Bright’s 12-foot putt wound up three inches left of the hole, and he missed the short shot before picking up for double-par.

“For me sometimes it feels like you’re supposed to hit those, so a little more pressure comes on you,” Houck said of the difficulty of short putts breaking too early. “When you’re farther away, you’re a little more freed up. … The main thing is you have to pick out a line, be confident with your line and keep your head down and that’s the best way to make some of those short putts, but it’s not always easy.”

Griffin’s 84 included seven pars, five of which came on the back nine, and five bogeys.

Goldsworthy put up the third-best JCHS score with a round of 89 that included four pars.

DeHoff only made par on the sixth, 17th and 18th holes en route to a 91 that rounded out the team score.

Bright shot a 94, which didn’t impact the final standings, in his first 18-hole match since May 3. He was filling in for Isaac Homan, who had the fourth-best 18-hole average in Jay County.