Hodag golfers take fourth in GNC opener

Rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance when the Great Northern Conference opened its 2024 golf tournament on Tuesday in Tomahawk. By the time the round was over, there were a couple of flurries in the air.

The field had to battle dynamic weather conditions at Inshalla Country Club. The Rhinelander High School golf team produced mixed results in how it handled the challenging elements as it shot 350 and finished in the middle of the pack — fourth out of the seven-team field.

The temperature was near 60 degrees when the field teed off at 3 p.m. By the time the golfers had reached their second nine, the mercury had dropped into the 40s and gusty winds picked up behind a boundary that had produced a couple of nearby thundershowers that threatened to suspend play, but never did. 

“It was windy and a lot of kids nowadays, everybody hits the ball high,” Hodag coach Adam Schmidt said. “You’d get up into the wind and it would go. We were just needing to keep the ball in play and stick to the basics — (hitting) fairways and greens. That’s always the goal. They got away from that a couple of times and it really hurt them today.”

Junior Sam Schoppe avoided the trouble better than any Hodag golfer on Tuesday, carding an 11-over par 81 to finish in a three-way tie for eighth and pick up two points in the individual conference race. Schoppe did not have any birdies on his card, but avoided making big numbers for the most part. His round included five bogeys and three double bogeys.

“He got two points, which was good. Still, he had a couple of three putts that he shouldn’t have had,” Schmidt noted.

    Rhinelander’s Brody Kowieski chips onto the green at the par-3 third hole at Inshalla Country Club in Tomahawk during the first leg of the GNC golf tournament Tuesday, April 23. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Junior Brody Kowieski shot 84 to finish 12th, three strokes out of the points. His opening nine was slowed by a triple bogey-8 on the par-5 sixth hole. He bounced back from doubles on 10 and 11 with a birdie on 12, but played his final five holes in five over.

Blake Petroff was 16th on the day, shooting 90, Hank Kowieski was 24th with a 95 and Chase West finished 30th with a round of 102. 

“It was windy, it was cold and we kind of fell apart, had some big numbers,” Schmidt said. “As a whole, we pretty much fell apart. Our short game was really rough today. I think Brody had like 28 putts, he was the only one who putted well. Everybody else had a bunch of three-putts and just some mistakes that were made.”

Medford’s Connor Lingen shot 3-over 73 to take the opening leg of the seven-round tournament. He finished a stroke ahead of Lakeland’s Jack Rubo. Despite the tough conditions, Schmidt said decent scores were still attainable on Tuesday, evidenced by the fact that the top five golfers in the field all broke 80.

“They all played in the same conditions and the Medford kid shot 73, a bunch of Lakeland kids all shot in the 70s, the Mosinee kid (Jett Walters) shot a low score,” he said. “We’re capable of playing better, we just didn’t. I think we made poor decisions.”

Lakeland shot 315 to win the opening leg of conference, 23 strokes ahead of Mosinee. Northland Pines, which finished fifth in the league last year, took third on Tuesday, three strokes ahead of the Hodags. Tomahawk (366), Antigo (368) and Medford (372) rounded out the field. 

“It’s the first conference match but Mosinee beat us by a lot. Pines beat us. It was eye-opening on the ride home,” Schmidt said. “The last couple of years Pines has not been that great. They’ve never been a contender but they beat us. We talked about (the difference between us was) three strokes. Each of us could have shaved a stroke somewhere. You’ve got to be focused the entire time. You can’t get frustrated and take a 7 or an 8. That could be the difference. We’ve got to remember that every stroke counts.”

The Hodags were in Medford yesterday to start back-to-back matches at Black River Golf Course. The non-conference Medford invite took place yesterday ahead of the second leg of the GNC tournament which, if it goes off as scheduled today, will likely be played in rainy and breezy conditions. The forecast calls for afternoon rain and winds out of the southeast at 20-25 MPH, with gusts up to 40 MPH.

“Friday it’s supposed to be the same temperature, but with rain too. That will be an adventure,” Schmidt said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].