RHS girls’ golf team competes in inaugural match

The dawn of the Rhinelander High School girls’ golf team reached another key milestone on Monday as the Hodags teed it up for the first time in competition.

Rhinelander shot 527 and finished last in the seven-team field at Bull’s Eye G.C. in Wisconsin Rapids, but for a team that had been at varying points of the planning stage for the better part of five years, Monday’s match marked a significant milestone.

“It was really good learning experience, because these girls had never played competitive golf before,” coach Adam Schmidt said. “It was really good learning. When play competitive golf, everything’s a little bit different. You really got to be careful. You got to follow the rules. Your integrity counts because other people are watching you too. That was really good for them just to have that experience.”

Senior Nevaeh Anderson led the way, finishing 20th in a 40-player field with a round of 114. Starting on the 16th hole, Anderson’s round got better as she went. After recording double bogey or worse on her first 11 holes, she made a bogey on the par-4 ninth hole and added three more bogeys over the final six holes. 

Senior Clarie Yunkers was Rhinelander second finisher with a 126, Ella Miljevich shot 133, Hayley Schiek shot 154, Karlie Yunkers shot 157 and first-time golfer Lindsey Hoerchler shot 164. 

“They all had really, really good groups. Lindsey, she was struggling and her group was so supportive. She’s like, ‘It was so much fun. Like, I just enjoyed it.,’” Schmidt noted. “I think she started getting a lot better on the back nine, keeping the ball and play, which was good.

“One thing I will say, like that first match, even though it was a little rough, they never were like, ‘Oh, I hate this. I’m never going to do this again,’ They were all happy and smiling and I applaud them for not giving up.”

Wausau East/West won the match with a score of 412. The seven-team field included all six Wisconsin Valley Conference programs plus Rhinelander, which is playing an independent schedule this season. Wisconsin Rapids’ Ava Fetterere earned medalist honors with a 96. Only four golfers broke 100 on the day. 

On the schedule, Rhinelander was supposed to play a dual against Amherst on Tuesday at SentryWorld in Stevens Point. However, that event turned into a teaching clinic in which players from Rhinelander, Amherst and Stevens Point spent time receiving instruction from teaching pros at SentryWorld and the Wisconsin PGA. 

“The girls they were all very appreciative. It was pretty neat,” Schmidt said. “They got individual instruction and a lot of the stuff that like that we normally do that we were telling them, they just had different ways to tell them and they could just talk to the girls a little bit different — because that’s what they do for a living.”

The Hodags need at least four matches on the books to be eligible for the WIAA tournament and though they lost a match date on Tuesday, they have tentatively picked up two others that will put the team at five matches for the regular season. 

According to Rhinelander’s rSchool scheduling page, Amherst is supposed to travel to Rhinelander Sept. 4 for a nine-hole dual meet at Northwood Golf Club. The team has also added an invite Monday, Sept. 22 at Burlington.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].