Hodag golfers fade in back-to-back conference matches

The Rhinelander High School golf team will not win the Great Northern Conference title this year. Following back-to-back tough rounds, even finishing in the top three in the conference will be a battle.

Rhinelander took fourth Monday at home at Rhinelander Country Club and then followed that up with a sixth-place finish Tuesday at Minocqua Country Club as the GNC staged the fourth and fifth legs of the conference tournament.

The results dropped Rhinelander to fourth in the conference standings. The Hodags trail conference-leading Lakeland by 13 points with two matches remaining, making it mathematically impossible to win the conference title. Northland Pines sits six points ahead of the Hodags in second place and Mosinee vaulted into third after tying for first-place Tuesday in Minocqua.

“They just got to play their tails off,” coach Adam Schmidt said. “Otherwise, we’re going to end up finishing low in conference. But the bonus is we got regionals and sectionals and state to look forward to. So hopefully we can hopefully we can get it together by then.”

While scores were low, the Hodags had a bit of an up-and-down day Monday in their home meet at Rhinelander Country Club. Rhinelander shot 328, but that was only good enough for fourth on the day as the team was edged by Mosinee by a stroke. 

“The boys  they started off really strong. When we were watching the scores early, it was like, ‘Holy cow! They’re really moving and grooving.’ So that was good,” Schmidt said.

    Rhinelander’s Brody Kowieski putts for par on the par-3 eighth hole at Rhinelander Country Club during a GNC golf tournament round Monday, May 12. Kowieski shot 77 Monday and finished in a third-place tie in the meet. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Brody Kowieski led the way for the Hodags, tying for third with a 6-over round of 77. He made a pair of birdies on his opening nine and the played a steady second nine with seven pars and two bogeys. 

“He had a couple birdies. He birdied one. He birdied six. And then his back nine, he had seven pars,” Schmidt said. “So he was just, you know, grooving. So that was really good, you know, shooting 38, 39. So that was a good round for Brody. Good to see him back at it again.”

West made a double bogey on his final hole, the par-4 second to shoot 81 and miss the top 10 by a stroke. Petroff shot 84 and Gremban shot 86. 

Schoppe was even on the front nine and had four birdies on his card, but his score was disallowed due to a rules infraction. 

The team collectively struggled on Tuesday and was never able to get it going at the site of last summer’s Wisconsin State Open. Rhinelander’s total of 349 strokes was its highest of the season, three strokes worse than a 346 it shot in the opening round of conference May 1 at Indianhead Golf Course in Mosinee. 

“It was pretty rough day. The boys didn’t play very well,” Schmidt said.

    Rhinelander’s Blake Petroff hits his tee shot on the par-3 fifth hole at Rhinelander Country Club during a GNC golf tournament round Monday, May 12. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Blake Petroff had the best round for Rhinelander, with a 12-over score of 84, but struggled down the stretch. His round included four birdies, including back-to-back on the 17th and 18th holes — his 11th and 12th of the day, to get to plus-4. But a double-quad-par-double stretch over the next four holes knocked him out of the top 10 by a stroke. 

“Blake was playing really good, and he took a big number, a triple or a quad, but he still, he shot 84, so that was a good round for him.”

Schoppe and Gremban shot matching 88s to tie for 21st on the day. Brody Kowieski was a stroke further back with an 89 and West shot 101. 

Merrill Best Ball

The Hodags competed in the Merrill Best Ball Invite on Saturday, forming a pair of two-man teams for the event. 

Rhinelander’s second team of Gremban and West finished tied for 10th on the day and shot 1-over 73 as a team. The Hodags’ first team Schoppe and Brody Kowieski shot 74 to tie for 12th.

The event featured a unique format in which the teams played six holes of best ball — taking the lower score of the two players on a hole — six holes of alternate shot and six holes of a two-man scramble. 

“It was a nice kind of a relaxing event just for the kids to get on and play some good golf,” Schmidt said.  

Apart from the different format, the Hodags were able to play against the seven Wisconsin Valley Conference schools that will make up the remainder of an eight-team Division 1 regional May 27 at Trapp River G.C. in Wausau. 

“We got to see some of the other kids and how they’re playing and talked to some of those guys that are going to be in our regional, so we’re definitely going to have to step up our game if we want to make it the sectionals,” Schmidt said. 

Conference home stretch

The GNC tournament will come to a close over the next few days with the penultimate round taking place this afternoon at Eagle River Golf Course and the finale set for Monday at Black River Golf Course in Medford. 

Individually, Schoppe is currently the only Hodag in all-conference position as he sits in a fifth-place tie with Lakeland’s Talan Pockat with two events remaining. Despite his tie for third Monday, Brody Kowieski is just outside the all-conference cutline in 16th — a point and a half out of the top 15. Gremban, who has not scored conference points since the second leg in Tomahawk, is now 19th in the conference standings. 

Lakeland sits seven points ahead of Northland Pines for the conference lead and could clinch the conference title with a match to spare by finishing ahead of the Eagles head-to-head today.

Mosinee’s Braiden Hoehn has taken the lead in the conference player of the year race by less than a point over Lakeland’s Jeremy Hansen. Mosinee’s Alex Steppke is third, Lakeland’s Davis Kock is fourth. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].