­Hodag golfers take 3rd in competitive Pines Invite

Northland Pines, Rhinelander and Tomahawk are locked in a battle for second in the Great Northern Conference entering the second half of the conference season. On Friday the teams took their rivalry outside the GNC, and the results were as tight as they could possibly be.

Northland Pines edged Tomahawk by a stroke and Rhinelander by two strokes for the title of the 10-team Northland Pines Invite at St. Germain Golf Course. 

The Hodags shot 324, and placed three golfers in the top 10 overall, but it wasn’t quite enough as they were clipped by both the Eagles and the Hatchets. 

Coach Adam Schmidt said a couple of mistakes were the difference between first place and third on Friday.

“Just had a couple of big numbers. We got to get rid of that,” he said. “St. Germain is a lot like Antigo where you kind of got to get your tee shot in the fairway. There was a couple holes where they had big numbers.”

Senior Sam Schoppe led the way for the Hodags for a third straight meet, shooting a 6-over par round of 78 to finish third, just two strokes off the lead. Schoppe had a steady round that mainly included strings of pars. He made three straight bogeys on holes 4-6 as he shot 39 on the front. A double on the long par-5 12 and a bogey on the par-4 13th were his only blemishes on the back nine. 

Freshman Grant Gremban shot 79 on Friday and tied for fifth. Starting on the 10th hole, Gremban played his first nine holes in 41 and then followed with a 38 on the second nine. 

“Sam could have played a little better, but still shooting 78 was good,” Schmidt said. “Grant shooting 79, that was pretty awesome. We got to figure out Grant’s front nine. Front nine is always higher and his back nine he comes out and shoots the lights out.”

Sophomore Chase West, in his first varsity outing since early in the season, tied for 10th with a career-low round of 81. West filled in for Brody Kowieski, who had to miss Friday’s meet due to Advanced Placement testing. After bogeying the opening three holes, West played the final six of the front nine even as he turned in 39. He flirted with breaking 80 before a double-bogey-bogey stretch on holes 15-17. 

“Chase played pretty good. He definitely played well getting the call up,” Schmidt said.

Blake Petroff was 16th on the day. He shot matching nines of 43 to shoot 86 on the round. Hank Kowieski shot 89 to finish in 22nd on the day. 

Tomahawk’s Olivier Childers took medalist honors with a 4-over round of 76, edging teammate Jake Albert by one stroke. 

Rhinelander was back in action Saturday at the Merrill Best Ball Invite. More on that tournament will be published in Friday’s edition of the River News. 

The Hodags are in the midst of a key stretch of the conference tournament that kicked off Monday at home at Rhinelander Country Club and continues today at Minocqua Country Club. The Hodags sit third in the GNC standings and are trying to make a move up the leaderboard with only two rounds to go following this afternoon’s play.

“They know what they’ve got to play for. We got to make it happen at our home course. If not, we’re kind of stuck,” Schmidt said. “We got to come out ready to play. So we're playing a lot of golf here in, a couple of days before this, but that's just how it is.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].