May 22, 2023 at 7:11 a.m.
Hodag golfers win home meet, regional tune-up
Hodag golfers win home meet, regional tune-up
Rhinelander shot 345 and won its home invite Friday at Northwood Golf Club. The field mainly featured smaller Division 2 and 3 schools from around the area. The Hodags will have a bigger test today as they host six Wisconsin Valley Schools and GNC champ Lakeland in a WIAA Division 1 regional tournament.
"I think it was good. It kinda sucked being cold, but we didn't play terrible," Hodag coach Adam Schmidt said of Friday's round, played in cool, breezy conditions.
Rhinelander finished 19 strokes ahead of conference rival Antigo on Friday. Sophomore Sam Schoppe took home medalist honors with an 8-over-par round of 80, leading three Hodags in the top 10 of the event.
Schoppe played the front nine in 39, which included birdies on both par 5s - the second and the seventh. He led by three strokes with two holes to play, but hit his second shot into the water on the par-4 17th hole, leading to a double bogey. He bounced back to par the closing hole and hold off Antigo's Cody Parsons by a shot.
"Sam played pretty good, he was 6-over gong into 17 and he doubled it, hit it in the water, and then parred the last hole to be the meet medalist. That was pretty awesome," Schmidt said. "Sam pulled his driver and his 3-wood out of his bag. He just hit irons off the tees and shot 80. He knows that he doesn't have to bang driver everywhere."
Senior Andrew Henrichs finished two strokes off the pace, tied for third with a round of 82. His round was slowed by five double bogeys that interrupted an otherwise steady diet of pars, offset by birdies on the seventh and 10th, and bogeys on the sixth and 13th.
"Andrew kind of was up and down today," Schmidt said. "He goes, 'Coach, all I can do is get pars, birdies and doubles.' He goes, 'If I could have just gotten rid a of a couple of doubles and I'm right there.'"
Blake Petroff shot 91 to finish in a tie for ninth on the day. Brody Kowieski struggled on the greens and shot 92 to tie for 12th. Senior Cooper Radke, making his varsity debut, shot 107.
"Brody struggled. Brody had I think he said 42 putts," Schmidt noted. That's very unlike Brody. Usually Brody has 35 putts. He struggled putting. That was one of the things he struggled with. He hit the ball OK. Blake just kind of trudged along for us. Cooper, in his varsity debut, he struggled today. He hit a lot of poor shots. He said he kind of lost his swing."
Rhinelander will enter today's regional seeded fifth in the eight-team field with an average of 173.21 strokes per nine holes. That's only about a stroke and a half higher than fourth-seeded Stevens Point (171.65).
Lakeland (158.44), Wausau East (164.76) and Marshfield (169.56) are the top three seeds. Wausau West (173.68), Merrill (175.44) and D.C. Everest (187.94) round out the field.
"I don't know if a 345 will make it on Tuesday, but a 335 probably could, or a 330 could make it as the fourth spot," Schmidt said. "It should be a whole lot warmer. Hopefully they can pull through."
The top four teams, plus the top four golfers not on a qualifying team will advance to next Tuesday's sectional round at RiverEdge Golf Course in Marshfield.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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