June 10, 2021 at 8:03 a.m.
Gechas, Henrichs finish golf season at sectionals
Gechas, Henrichs finish golf season at sectionals
Junior Kole Gechas shot 84 and tied for 20th in a 48-player field while sophomore Andrew Henrichs shot 93 and tied for 41st.
It was the first trip to sectionals for both Hodag golfers, and coach Adam Schmidt said it was a good experience for both.
"Just the experience was great. You look around, out of our (regional), only four kids got the chance to go and they were two of the four. That was pretty good," he said.
Gechas had a solid round, with only one double bogey on the front nine as he made the turn in 44. His back nine included five pars and four bogeys as he shot a 12-over par round to finish eight strokes out of a four-way playoff for the final two individual qualifying positions for the WIAA state tournament.
"I think Kole did a really good job just trying to play his game. Kole kind of struggled getting up and down, making the putts for par. We kind of jumped around that bogey golf today," Schmidt said. "He shot 40 on the back. We talked about keeping the ball in play. He kept the ball in play, never had a penalty stroke. He hit a ton of fairways. He was hitting long irons and shot placement was good. He just would miss green, he'd chip up and make bogey."
Henrichs, meanwhile, had an adventurous scorecard that included a 2, a 9 and every score in between. He shot 47 on the front and 46 on the back for a 21-over par round.
"He had some really good holes and he had some pretty rough holes," Schmidt said. "The rough holes, he struggled getting off the tee. I can't say he hit his driver bad all day. On 18 he hit a perfect drive down the righthand side to the corner, hit a 7-iron down there. There were a couple of holes he got off the tee well, and a couple holes where he did not."
Henrichs also had a stretch from holes 6 through 11 where he made three birdies which, Schmidt said, came from taking the pressure off himself.
"It was the first time he had three birdies in a round, it was pretty awesome," he said. "He got on a little roll ... I think the moment he started having fun and not taking it so serious (he played better). I think he realized he would have to shoot even par or 75 to go. Once he started just enjoying it, he started playing a lot better."
Schmidt said both players had some trouble figuring out Greenwood Hills' small, undulating greens.
"The big thing with Greenwood Hills' greens, some of them were super fast. Some of them were kind of fast and there are so many bumps on the greens, it's a very hard course to putt," he said. "The greens are not huge. If you tried to hit the center of the green, you had to be careful because if the green was in front and you hit toward the center, you might have a 20-foot putt downhill, and the chances of stopping it are like one in a million."
The players not only had to battle a tough course and tough competition, but also the heat. Despite mid-morning tee times, the temperature climbed into the low 90s by the second nine.
"The back nine was really hot," Schmidt said. "Every other hole, I kept giving (Kole) water and riding with him for a hole and then go back and check on Andrew, just kept feeding those guys water and Gatorade. It was hot out there. I've never heard Kole say he didn't like a round of golf, he said he did not enjoy the round of golf. It was so hot. It was just grueling. You had to just grind it out."
The meet wrapped up the 2021 season for the Hodags. Though Rhinelander finished sixth in the GNC, they did so with a young squad - all of which is slated to return next year.
"That's very good news," Schmidt said. "We've got a young team and we're bringing everybody back. They'll all have a lot more experience and, by the sounds of it, they'll all be playing a lot more. Carter (Gaber)'s been playing a lot of golf. He'll get better for next year. Really all of them, Cal (Laggis) and Kole and Andrew have been playing still and they'll continue to play. I'm sure Garrett (Kulhanek) will play out at (Rhinelander Country Club) when he's not working. We definitely have a lot of potential.
The team handed out its awards during a banquet last Thursday at Northwood Golf Course. Gechas won the Schoppe Family MVP award based on his team-best 85.17 scoring average while Henrichs claimed the Jim Johnson most improved award with an improvement of 14 strokes over the course of the season.
Gechas also took home honors as the team's leader in fairways hit (8.58 per round), greens in regulation (7.7 per round) and putting (35.0 per round).
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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