Hodag golfers tie for third in GNC

Rhinelander and Northland Pines went back and forth for the third spot in the Great Northern Conference golf standings all season long. When the dust settled Thursday, neither team had a leg up over the other.

The Hodags concluded the conference tournament with a fourth-place finish Wednesday at Bass Lake Golf Club in Deerbook followed by a tie for third Thursday at Trout Lake Golf Club in Arbor Vitae.

Rhinelander, which entered the final three rounds of the GNC tournament with a two-point lead on Northland Pines for third, gave one point away last Tuesday when it finished third behind the Eagles in Mosinee and another on Wednesday after Pines took third in Antigo. 

That put both teams on level footing in the standings entering Thursday’s finale. Both squads shot 342s to end the race in a dead heat on 31 1/2 points, behind Lakeland (49) and Mosinee (40).

The rounds were a part of a busy stretch for Rhinelander with four meets in four days.

“It’s just a lot of golf in a row. When you play that much golf, when you’re playing good, it’s fine but when you’re struggling it’s hard to play that much golf in a row,” Hodag coach Adam Schmidt said following Thursday’s finale. “Everyone just kind of struggled a little bit (at Bass Lake) and the same kind of thing today.” 

The Hodags labored to a 351, one of their highest scores of the season, Wednesday at Bass Lake. Sam Schoppe recovered from a slow start, playing his first six holes in 6-over, to shoot 79 on Wednesday and take sixth place on the day. Brody Kowieski also started slow as a triple bogey on his third hole of the day, the par-4 11th, had him at plus-4. He managed to play the rest of the back nine in 2-over and then shot 40 on the front to post an 81 and slip into a two-way tie for eighth.

Otherwise, it was a struggle for Rhinelander on the day. Blake Petroff shot 89, Chase West had a 102 and Hank Kowieski shot 111. 

Rhinelander and Pines went back and forth on Thursday battling for the third spot. Ultimately, bogeys by three of Rhinelander’s four scorers on their final hole of the day — Schoppe on the 13th, Kowieski on the 12th and West on the seventh — relegated the Hodags into a tie for third. 

Schoppe was also in the hunt for first-team all-conference honors, needing to tie or beat Lakeland’s Gray Wagner on Thursday to hold on to the fifth and final spot on the team. Schoppe sat one shot back of Wagner as each played their final hole. Schoppe made bogey and Wagner parred. That relegated Schoppe to sixth in the final standings, the first spot on the second team, after a round of 81.

Meanwhile, Kowieski needed a top 10 finish to have any chance of vaulting into the second team, but his 83 left him two strokes outside the points and stuck in 11th place overall, 3 1/4 points Lakeland’s Jeremy Hansen for the final spot on the second team.

“Brody would make a birdie and he was in ninth place for a while, then he went in the woods and had to chip out and went bogey, bogey. That was kind of a bummer,” Schmidt said. “Sam really struggled with the driver today. He was hitting the driver all over the place, but he still managed to keep it out of the really big numbers.

“(Sam’s) still second team. That’s good. Our conference is one of the stronger conference around the area. Brody was kind of bummed because he took 11th last year.”

    Rhinelander’s Chase West hits his tee shot on the par-3 15th hole at Trout Lake Golf Club in Arbor Vitae during the final round of the GNC golf tournament Thursday, May 16. West shot a career-best 86 on Thursday to help the Hodags tie for third on the day and finish tied for third in the final conference standings with Northland Pines. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

West shot a career-low round of 86 to finish 15th and keep the Hodags in the hunt. Petroff shot 92 as he missed out on all-conference honors, taking 16th in the standings. He missed the final spot on the honorable mention team by a half point. Hank Kowieski was given the day off. Senior Will Gretzinger played in his place, but withdrew after four holes.

Hodag Invite

The Hodag golf team shot 347 as it closed out the regular season by winning its home invitational Friday at Northwood Golf Club. The Hodags placed three golfers in the top five as they edged Marathon by four strokes.

“We have to work on some fundamental stuff, keeping the ball in play and putting, putting was a big one,” Schmidt said. “We kind of talked about it, the guys are going to work on it tomorrow and all weekend. Hopefully we should be ready for our practice round on Monday and Tuesday regionals.”

Schoppe played his final 12 holes in even par and shot 77 for the day, taking medalist honors by two strokes over Marathon’s Alex Pawlowicz. Schmidt said the key for Schoppe was keeping the ball in play around Northwood’s tight, tree-lined layout.

“He was hitting it left, hitting it right and then just started hitting iron off the tee and playing it a little smarter,” Schmidt said of Schoppe’s mid-round adjustments. “That really helped him. (2023 Hodag golf team grad) Andrew Henrichs came back and walked with him a bunch of holes, talked him through some of his shots. Sam started playing pretty good golf.”

Brody Kowieski and Petroff tied for fifth with rounds of 87. Hank Kowieski shot 96 and West shot 98.

Regionals ahead

The Hodags now turn their attention to the postseason, as they will tee it up at RiverEdge Golf Course in Marshfield today in a WIAA Division 1 regional. Rhinelander is slated to go off in this morning’s second wave as it enters the tournament as the third seed in the eight-team regional with a team scoring average of 167.8 strokes per nine holes. Only Wausau East (163.2) and Stevens Point (164.0) come in lower. 

The regional consists everyone except Wisconsin Rapids out of the Wisconsin Valley Conference plus Medford from the GNC. The top four teams, and the top four individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to next Tuesday’s sectional round in Hudson.

“One of the boys said, ‘Coach, we’ve got to shoot some poor rounds before we shoot some good rounds.’ I hope that’s true,” Schmidt said. “The big thing is school’s getting less busy. All their AP tests are done. The kids talked about having the weight off their shoulders. This weekend, they’ll have a couple of days off and then they’ll play a practice round on Monday and play regionals on Tuesday. They’re playing some decent golf. If we tighten up a few things, I think we’ll be in good shape.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].