May 12, 2022 at 8:56 a.m.
Gechas shoots 76, Hodags 3rd again at home
Gechas shoots 76, Hodags 3rd again at home
Rhinelander fared well again Tuesday on its home course, shooting 341 and scoring yet another third-place finish in the fourth leg of the Great Northern Conference tournament at Northwood Golf Club.
Senior Koldyn Gechas carded his third straight sub-80 round, finishing in a four-way tie for second with a 76 around his home track and the Hodags scored 341 or better for a third straight match after not going that low as a team since the 2017 season.
"The boys are really playing well," said coach Adam Schmidt, who was back on course Tuesday after missing Saturday's match in Merrill due to a health concern. "I told them after Saturday, 'If you keep playing like this, holy cats, watch out.' It's nice to see the kids putting in the work."
Due to the threat of thunderstorms the golfers played Northwood's second nine twice to ensure everyone played the same nine holes in a shotgun start to have an official match in case weather interfered. Luckily, the storms stayed away and the match finished without delay.
"We had thought we were going to have to play the back nine twice anyway because there was supposed to be ladies' league," Schmidt said. "It actually worked out great. We heard a little rumble of thunder, but there was no lightning, so that was good. After that, it sprinkled a couple of times but that was it. We were pretty lucky, pretty blessed that we didn't get rained on."
Gechas, who started his day on the 10th hole, went around the back nine in 39 the first time through and the came back with a 37 on his second nine. He had three birdies on his scorecard. He birdied the par-5 16th hole the first time around and then recorded birdies on 13 and 18 the second time around.
"Kole, he's definitely playing like a No. 1 man. That was good to see," Schmidt said. "It's been kind of a long time coming, historically speaking, Kole hasn't shot his best rounds at Northwood, but tonight, as a senior coming out and shooting 76, that was huge."
Gechas finished in a logjam at 76, one stroke behind meet medalist Jett Walters of Mosinee. The 7 1/2 conference points Gechas earned moved him into eighth in the GNC standings. Schmidt said the senior has become much more consistent.
"This year, especially, he's gotten a lot smoother and makes a lot better choices," he said. "He's just been playing good golf. He doesn't really get into trouble a lot, plays smart and makes good selections. He's just starting to play really well and he's worked on his game. He's gotten a lot better. It's nice to see when kids put in the time and the effort, it's nice to see what they get out of it. They get quality golf out of it."
Freshman Brody Kowieski shot 80 on Tuesday to finish alone in eighth place. After making the turn in 43 he played his second nine in 37, which included a birdie on the par-4 10th.
"When I was watching him, he was hitting the ball OK," Schmidt noted. "There were a couple of holes, talking to his dad, he was hitting it to the left and a little bit long, but the one thing I noticed about Brody is he never got down on it and he just kept going. He was getting up and down really well."
Though Kowieski earned three points for his finish, he fell to 10th in the overall standings, and currently sits in the final spot that will receive second-team all-conference honors at the end of the season.
Garrett Kulhanek shot 90 on the day, Cal Laggis shot 95 and Andrew Henrichs shot 97. All three finished outside the top 10. Kulhanek continues to hold on to the 15th and final all-conference position in the league standings while Henrichs dropped to 17th.
Lakeland shot 308 to win its fourth straight conference leg. Medford finished five strokes ahead of Rhinelander for second, Mosinee (346) and Antigo (347) rounded out the top five.
Lakeland, Medford and Rhinelander have finished 1-2-3 in all four legs of the conference tournament so far. Rhinelander has a six-point edge on Antigo for third in the conference standings.
The GNC headed to Eagle River Golf Course yesterday for the fifth leg of the GNC tournament and will be at Timber Ridge Golf Club in Minocqua today for Round 6. Antigo hosts the final leg of conference play this coming Tuesday at Bass Lake Golf Club in Deerbrook.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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