Hodag golfers claim third at Eagle River, Merrill

Three was a magic number for the Rhinelander High School golf team in a pair of matches late last week.

Rhinelander shot 325 on Friday as it claimed third in the fourth round of the Great Northern Conference golf tournament hosted by Northland Pines at Eagle River Golf Course. 

The Hodags loaded up on the threes Saturday in Merrill, taking third in the 19-team Merrill Best Ball Invite. Brody Kowieski shot a 74 to finish in a tie for second, which was officially credited as third with the tie broken on a scorecard countback. Kowieski and Sam Schoppe finished third as a best ball tandem in the non-conference meet, and the Hodags’ team score in the invite was, fittingly, a 333.

Regardless, it was a good weekend for the Hodags’ top two golfers. Schoppe and Kowieski each broke 80 in both rounds to finish high on the leaderboard and the Hodags appear to be rounding into from as the season enters the home stretch. 

“They’re starting to play really good golf here right at the end, which is awesome,” Hodag coach Adam Schmidt said.

Schoppe led the way for Rhinelander on Friday, posting a 5-over round of 76, posting matching 38s on each of Eagle River’s nines. That landed him in a tie for fifth on the day. Kowieski was one stroke behind that with a 77. Starting on the eighth hole, Kowieski played the back nine in 38 with birdies on the par-5 12th and par-3 18, and then played his final seven holes in 2-over. 

Brody Kowieski was even at the turn on Saturday, thanks to a front-nine 35. He made four birdies on his round, but bogeyed the final hole to finish a stroke behind Wausau East’s Sawyer Krambs for medalist honors. Schoppe had three birdies on his card Saturday as he went out in 38 and back in 39.

“Brody and Sam played good golf. That was good. Brody’s been so stressed out, taking all of these AP tests that he said it was just a weight lifted off of him yesterday and today,” Schmidt said. “Brody putted pretty well. He hit a lot of greens, he had 15 greens. He’s striking the ball well, driver was working good. That just put him in a good position. Sam would get off the tee pretty good. Then I watched him on hole 17. He hit a tree on the drive, the tee shot went only like 150 yards. He hit a 5-iron 233 and stuffed it into like eight feet. He missed the putt but he made par. That was pretty awesome.” 

Blake Petroff barely missed the points on Friday, shooting 82 and finishing 11th, one stroke outside the top 10. Chase West shot 90 and Hank Kowieski shot 99. 

“Yesterday was a good day. We played pretty good overall. A couple of kids could have played better, but that’s golf,” Schmidt said. “Hank struggled, but Chase stepped up and helped us out. That was awesome.” 

Because of Merrill’s two-player best ball format, the Hodags brought only four golfers to Saturday’s invite. Petroff shot 84 and Hank Kowieski shot 98.

“Blake just kind of worked his way around the course. I think he said he only lost a couple of balls. Hank’s in a little bit of a slump right now. He started off OK but then it got to be kind of a challenge toward the end. 

It all leads up to a mad scramble to end the regular season as the Great Northern Conference title will be decided in a 54-hole marathon over the next three days. The fifth round of the conference tournament takes place this afternoon at Indianhead Golf Course in Mosinee. The conference then heads to Bass Lake Golf Club in Deerbrook tomorrow to make up Antigo’s rained out leg of the tournament from last week. The conference season finishes Thursday at Timber Ridge Golf Club in Minocqua. 

“It’s going to be exciting. There’s going to be a lot of golf played here in the next 10 days,” Schmidt said.

The Hodags sit third as a team in the conference standings after Friday’s play, six points behind Mosinee for second and two ahead of Northland Pines for third. Schoppe vaulted into contention for first-team All-GNC honors thanks to his round on Friday. He now sits fifth in the season-long standings, one point ahead of Lakeland’s Gray Wagner. The top five at season’s end will make the first team. 

Thanks to his finish on Friday, Kowieski moved up to 11th in the conference standings while Petroff sits tied for 14th with three rounds remaining. Positions 6-10 in the standings at the end of the year will receive second-team honors and positions 11-15 will receive honorable mention.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].