May 19, 2023 at 7:26 a.m.
Hodag golfers wrap up 3rd place in GNC
Henrichs, Kowieski, Schoppe earn All-GNC honors
Hodag golfers wrap up 3rd place in GNC
The Hodags placed fourth in the penultimate leg of the conference tournament Monday at Trout Lake Golf Club in Arbor Vitae and followed that with a runner-up showing in the conference finale Tuesday at Inshalla Country Club in Tomahawk.
That was enough for the Hodags to lock up third in the GNC standings for the second year in a row.
The scores did not particularly stand out. The Hodags shot 356 at Trout Lake and 343 at Inshalla, but coach Adam Schmidt said both courses played fast and firm, making it more difficult to keep the ball in play and have shots hold when they hit the green.
"Yesterday was pretty challenging. The course played pretty tough for everybody. It was so rock-hard and Trout Lake is so tight that it hit really hard and we had a lot of mental errors," Schmidt said. "Today we just kind of kept it together, talked to the boys about keeping the ball in play and ended up holding on to it."
Senior Andrew Henrichs was the only Hodag to finish in the top 10 both days. He shot 88 on Monday to finish in a 10th-place tie. He played his final nine holes in 3-over on Tuesday to shoot 82 and tie for fourth in the final round.
Henrichs ended up fifth in the final individual conference standings. That was good enough to hold on to the final spot on the all-conference first team. He's the first Hodag to earn first-team honors in the GNC since Logan Johnson in 2016.
"He's been working hard. We've been really working on his mental game, trying to keep (positive), and not get discouraged when he's playing bad," Schmidt said. "He held it together and it was very exciting to see him get first-team all-conference. He's been trying for that. It was nice for that to happen. He just played his own game. He had a rough start. He was like 10 over after eight or something and then he just started pounding some pars out and just keep grinding. He never gave up."
Brody Kowieski finished one shot higher than Henrichs on Tuesday to tie for sixth on the day. That moved him to 11th in the conference standings, good enough to receive honorable mention. He finished one point behind 10th place Owen Dickrell of Tomahawk for second-team honors.
Despite missing out on the top 10 by a stroke both Monday and Tuesday, sophomore Sam Schoppe held on to 14th place in the overall standings and also received honorable mention.
Though Schoppe shot 89 on Tuesday he brought his round back from a disastrous start in which he opened with a quadruple-bogey 9 on his first hole of the day, the par-5 6th. He was 20-over for the day after finishing Inshalla's back nine, but rallied to play his final five holes in 1-under. That finish helped Rhinelander climb from as low as fifth during the round to the runner-up spot.
"I talked to him and he's like, 'oh man, I think I'm (mentally) done.' I'm like, 'No, we need you, you can't quit now," Schmidt said.
All five of Rhinelander's golfers finished within two strokes of each other on Monday at Trout Lake. Henrichs shot 88, Schoppe and Braden Mork each shot 89 and Kowieski and Blake Petroff each shot 90. While Mork and Petroff kept Rhinelander's score respectable from their Nos. 4 and 5 positions, Schmidt said his top three had a difficult time adjusting to Trout Lake's tricky conditions.
"I understood it was tough, but they pretty much beat themselves on Monday," he said. "There were a lot of foolish shots that they hit and they just couldn't fix the whole (mindset). They couldn't aim at the pins. They had to aim for the front of the greens and bounce it up. Then those greens were so small. It was a tough course."
Schmidt said those conditions helped prepare the team for a similar course setup on Tuesday. Petroff shot 89 at Inshalla and Mork carded a 98.
Lakeland won the final two legs of conference to sew up its fifth straight conference title. Medford struggled and finished fifth on Tuesday, but had an insurmountable gap over Rhinelander in the battle for second. The Hodags edged out Mosinee by 2 1/2 points for third.
Mosinee's Jett Walters shared medallist honors both days to wrap up GNC player of the year honors by 5 1/2 points over Lakeland's Jack Rubo. Matt Haggart of Lakeland, Connor Lingen of Medford and Henrichs joined the two on the all-conference first team.
The Hodags will play one final regular season match at home on Friday at Northwood Golf Club as it prepares for a WIAA Division 1 regional, which will also be held at Northwood, May 23.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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