Hodag golfers 2nd at Marathon

Normally a runner-up finish in a 16-team meet would be something to smile about, but coach Adam Schmidt and the Rhinelander High School golf team couldn’t help but think they left something on the table Monday in Marathon.

The Hodags shot 345 and finished second in the non-conference invitational at Pine Galley Golf Course. Rhinelander finished eight strokes behind GNC rival Medford for the top spot on a day when nobody in the Hodag lineup broke 80.

The were no birdies among the Rhinelander quintet, either. Schmidt said the struggles stemmed from bleeding strokes on and around the green.

“I walked around with them the whole day. It was there. I don’t know. We just seemed kind of off today, just didn’t seem to have the drive to go out there and take it,” Schmidt said.

It was a tale of two nines for the majority of the Hodag golfers. Juniors Sam Schoppe and Brody Kowieski each shot 11-over rounds of 82 to finish in a tie for sixth overall on the day.

Schoppe bogeyed the final five holes of his opening nine to make the turn in 42. He followed that by playing his next seven holes in 1-over, but made a double bogey on the short, par-3 17th and closed with a bogey to finish his round.

Brody Kowieski started the day with three straight bogeys and stabilized a little bit from there, making the turn in 41. He also came back in 41, with bogeys on three of his final four holes.

“Sam and Brody they started off a little slow,” Schmidt said. Just watching them, they struggled lag putting. We’ve got to work on lag putting. They’d hit it not real close and then put the putt a long way past and it was jut a little bit more of a challenge than normal. 

“Brody had 34 putts, shot 41-41. It was so wet that the course played a little bit longer than normal. Sam putted OK, had 32 putts, but he struggled with his wedges. On hole 7 I think hit his drive to like 50 yards to the greens and took him three to get on. He just kept leaving it short. He struggled with 50 yards and in today.”

Blake Petroff shot 87 for Rhinelander to finish in 13th on the day. He was 4-over through his first seven holes, but made a triple on the eighth as he turned in 43. He had double bogeys on the 15th and 17th as he came home in 44.

Hank Kowieski shot 94 and finished 27th. He was 5-over through six holes, but made a triple on the par-4 seventh and had only one par the rest of the way as he posted nines of 45 and 49.

“Blake played OK, a couple of weird shots on the holes I walked with him but, other than that he played OK. Blake was only five strokes off of have a really good day, a couple of throwaway (holes),” Schmidt noted. “Hank kind of gets on the bogey train sometimes and it’s hard to get off. He had a couple of doubles and that was kind of Hank’s game today.”

Junior Samuel Strong made his varsity debut on Monday in the Hodags’ No. 5 spot and shot 98. He played the front nine in 50 and came back in 48.

Medford’s Connor Lingen was the only golfer to break 80. His 3-over round of 74 finished six shots clear of Marathon’s Dylan Dodson and Tomahawk’s Austin Lamer for medalist honors. 

Team-wise, the Hodags finished three strokes ahead of Marathon for the runner-up spot. Prentice finished fourth and Tomahawk was fifth, just five strokes behind Rhinelander.

The Hodags were scheduled to host the third leg of the Great Northern Conference tournament Thursday at Northwood Golf Club, but the meet was postponed due to rain. The Hodags will host Monday, May 6 with the meet being moved to Rhinelander Country Club.

The fourth leg of the conference golf tournament is slated for this coming Tuesday, hosted by Antigo at Bass Lake Golf Club in Deerbrook.

In the interim, Schmidt said the plan this week is to focus on the short game during practice in an effort to shave some of the strokes the Hodags left on the course Monday.

“That’s the plan, work on putting, work on chipping, try to get some confidence,” he said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].