Final ride

YORKTOWN — Griffin Bryum put together a strong season for the Patriots’ wrestling team, coming just one match short of the state tournament.

As a state-ranked wrestler in the 113-pound weight class, Byrum knew what to expect from himself and how far he could make it on the mat. When the season changed over, the singlet got hung in the closet and the golf clubs were picked up, Byrum wasn’t exactly certain what his role would be.

After playing for the varsity squad the entire season, Bryum found himself as the only Patriot to advance from the sectional to the regional, but The Players Club and a loaded field was too much for him to advance even further.

Byrum’s season ended at the IHSAA Regional 4 boys golf tournament hosted by Muncie Central at The Players Club on Thursday as the Jay County High School senior finished the round with 110 strokes.

Similar to qualifying from the sectional to the regional meet, only the top three individuals not advancing teams earn berths to the state tournament. Those three spots went to Tommy Klinker of Fishers, who finished second overall with a 1-under-par 71, Eastbrook’s Landon Tropf with a 72 and Tate LaBrune of Heritage Christian, who had to earn his berth with a one-hole playoff after tying with Pendleton Heights’ Vance Jarvis at 74. (Johnny Lehman of Cathedral earned regional match medalist honors with a 70, while Nobelsville’s 295 beat Hamilton Southeastern’s 298 for the regional title.)

“It started out great, but as soon as I started playing bad, I just couldn’t shake the bad play,” Bryum said. “It kept getting worse and worse. But overall, I made it to regionals and played a course I’ll never spend my dimes on but had a good day overall.”

Bryum started off strong with bogeys on the first and second hole, but started to struggle with putting on the third, fourth and fifth. During the stretch, he shot seven-over-par before bouncing back with pars on the sixth and eighth hole and a bogey on the seventh. He had one more hiccup with a triple-bogey on the ninth, giving up 49 strokes at the turn.

For the most part on the front nine, Byrum continued his sectional success with driving the ball and hitting his irons well. He also said he did a better job chipping than he did at Hickory Hills on Tuesday. Putting is what hurt him early in the day as some of the greens retained the morning dew, slowing his putts down causing them to break early, while others were drier and sped right past the hole.

“The greens are really small and if they’re not small, they’re sloped like crazy,” Byrum said. “Up by the greens there’s a lot of bunkers and hills. So the close game is the hardest part in my opinion. The greens are really, really fast, fairways and out of bounds is tight and it’s just overall difficult.”

Byrum started the back nine on a high note as he parred the 388-yard, par-4 tenth hole.

Between the early frustrations with putting, and the physical toll the course demands —  The Players Club clocks in at 6,934 yards worth of course with plenty of walking between holes as roads need to be crossed eight times and the green of one hole is directly next to the next tee box only three times — the quality of his tee shots started to deteriorate. He sent his ball out of bounds on the 11th hole for the first time leading to a double-par and never quite recovered mentally.

“You don’t really think about it bothering you too much, but you look back on it and it really does,” Byrum said. “It’s really hard to shake those bad thoughts and the bad play.”

He went out of bounds a handful more times on the back nine, including on the 533-yard, par-5 15th hole that he managed to save for only a double-par. His first shot sailed too far to the right out of bounds, forcing him to re-tee. His second drive (for his third stroke) ended up in a large pine tree on the right hand side, forcing another stroke on a punch out. Byrum used a fairway wood to put himself just over 100 yards away from the hole, before hitting to within 15 feet of the green and chipping on within three feet. He hit the putt to finish the hole with seven strokes despite the struggles out of the tee box.

In all, Byrum shot 61 on the back nine, leading to the 110. While Byrum wasn’t pleased with his performance, he was able to reflect on the accomplishments of the season and being able to make it to the regional.

“I’m more of a wrestler, so it’s not like I’ve grinded gears to bust my butt to make it to regionals,” Byrum said. “I just never thought I’d make it to regionals. I didn’t really know how anything worked and it was kind of new to me. … But I’m glad I could say I did.”