May 9, 2018 at 1:39 p.m.
Hodag golfers take fourth and fifth in back-to-back GNC meets
Hodag golfers take fourth and fifth in back-to-back GNC meets
The Hodags shot 356 and finished fourth Monday at Indianhead Golf Course in Mosinee and followed that up with a 357 and a fifth-place finish Tuesday at Bass Lake Golf Club in Deerbrook.
"We're improving, so that's a good thing," coach Adam Schmidt said. "There's still work to be done though. We've got to work on hitting our greens in regulation. We kind of struggled with that a little bit, and there we are few penalty strokes, but putting got better so that was good."
Senior Zach Olds continued to rack up points in the GNC standings thanks to strong second nines both Monday and Tuesday.
He played the tree-lined back nine at Inidanhead in 39 strokes on Monday en route to a season-best score of 79 and a fifth-place tie. After a rocky 47 on the front at Bass Lake Tuesday, Olds came back in 1-over 36 to shoot 83 and finish in a tie for ninth place.
"His back nine, he played really well," Schmidt said of Olds play on Tuesday. "He didn't really make a lot of mistakes. The greens he missed he got up and down. He played really good golf, really smart golf on the back nine, kept the ball in play."
Olds currently sits eighth in the conference standings through three of seven legs.
While Rhinelander didn't get anybody else in the top 10 Monday or Tuesday, the team avoided the big numbers better than previous rounds and got all five golfers to the clubhouse in under 100 strokes both days. Nick Twite and Will England both shot 91s for the Hodags on Monday, Joseph Schmitz shot 95 and Nick Sandstrom, in his first varsity start of the season, shot 99.
A triple bogey on the par-4 16th hole and a double bogey on the par-4 18th kept Twite out of the points on Tuesday. He made the turn in 3-over 39, but shot 45 on the back to finish one stroke behind Olds and in 11th place. Devon Gaber shot 94, England finished with a 96 and Schmitz shot 99.
"They all agreed they left some strokes out there but it's good to see they're excited and they want to get after it," Schmidt said.
Lakeland won both legs, shooting 321 at Inidianhead and 312 at Bass Lake. Lakeland's Ansen Nomm tied for first both days - with Mosinee John Birnbaum Monday and teammate Kyle Bengtson on Tuesday. Nomm and Bengtson are 1-2 in the conference standings through three legs.
It will be Rhinelander's turn to host Friday at the GNC heads to Northwood Golf Club for a round on what's widely considered the conference's most difficult course.
"It's just so tight. It's always a good challenge, always a good test," Schmidt said. "Our kids know Northwood pretty well so I'm hoping we can put up some lower numbers on Friday and make it happen."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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