Hodag golfers finish 5th in GNC finale

The Rhinelander High School golf team shot 323 in the Medford Invite back in April. On Monday, with individual and team placement in the Great Northern Conference on the line, the Hodags got in to trouble too often and finished nearly 30 strokes higher.

Rhinelander shot 352 on Monday and finished fifth in the GNC finale at Black River Golf Course in Medford. That, coupled with Tomahawk’s runner-up finish, dropped the Hodags into fifth in the final conference golf standings, a half-point behind Tomahawk for fourth. 

What started out as a promising year for the Hodags went south as the team finished outside the top four in two of the final three conference matches. Coach Adam Schmidt boiled the team’s struggles down to playing too aggressively and getting into trouble because of it. 

“On the back nine they still were hitting driver where they should have been hitting irons and keeping the ball and play,” he said. “They were kind of pushing, trying to make some something happen. When that happens, it just snowballs into the monster numbers.

“For a while there, we were playing smart golf and we were in first and second place. Then they started kind of pressing a little bit, and then they got in trouble.”

No one was immune to the struggles on a breezy day in Medford. Grant Gremban and Hank Kowieski had the best rounds of the day, tying for 14th with rounds of 87, but Kowieski had four double bogeys on his card and Gremban had five. 

Blake Petroff had three doubles and a triple on his card as he shot 89. Seniors Sam Schoppe and Brody Kowieski were both in position to perhaps finish in the top 10 before being undone by Black River’s par-4 4th hole late in their rounds. Schoppe, playing it as his last hole of the day, made a quintuple-bogey 9 there to shoot 89 and finish five strokes out of the top 10. Brody Kowieski made a quadruple-bogey 8 on the hole and followed with a double bogey on his last hole of the day, the par-5 fifth to shoot 91.

The Hodags finished only two strokes behind Lakeland for fourth place and would have taken fourth in the conference had they placed one spot better on Monday. 

Rhinelander entered the day only a point behind Mosinee for third in the standings and had at least four players who could have moved into all-conference consideration with strong rounds. Schmidt said those factors likely played into the decision-making process on some of the shots on Monday.

“The moment you try to press, you know, the course was playing tough enough, you just got to keep the ball play,” he said.

Schoppe wound up as the only Hodag to receive all-conference honors on the season as he finished in 10th place in the final countenance standings. 

“Sam was second team, all conference. I think he could have easily been first team. But getting DQ’ed kind of hurts,” Schmidt said, referencing a rules infraction that occurred during the May 12 meet in Rhinelander.

Schoppe had only two top-10 finishes in GNC play and  finished 12 1/2 points behind Lakeland’s Talan Pockat for the fifth and final spot on the all-conference first team, meaning he would have needed to place in the top 10 in at least two more conference meets in order to make up the deficit. 

Only the top 15 in the final standings make the all-conference team. Brody Kowieski finished 18th, four points out of 15th, while Gremban and Petroff each tied for 20th. All three players had only one top-10 finish in the seven conference matches.

With the conference season over, the Hodags are turning their attention to WIAA regional play this coming Tuesday at Trapp River Golf Course in Wausau. Rhinelander currently ranks seventh in the eight-team regional with a team scoring average of 168.0 strokes per nine holes. That’s just over two strokes higher than third-place Stevens Point (165.8), but Schmidt said the Hodags will have to play intelligently if they want to advance in the playoffs. 

“That’s what we got to do at regionals. If we don’t do that at regionals, we’re going to be done. Even it’s that course is a whole lot easier. It sounds like it’s a little more open, but it still doesn’t mean you can hit your driver all over the place, or you’re going to end up trees or in crap lies. You just got to keep that ball in play. 

“It’s going to be boring, but, boy, if you shoot 75, you know, a boring 75 is a whole lot better than a really exciting 89.”

The Hodags will likely have a good test of that mantra today as they close out the season at home with an invite at Northwood Golf Club. That tight, tree-lined course puts an emphasis of keeping the ball in play. 

“Getting back Northwood will be good,” Schmidt said. “When they play Northwood, they know they’ve got to keep the ball in play. Hopefully that’ll be a good way to go on and move on and kind of prepare for regionals. We just got to play better. I just can’t say enough, you got to keep that ball in play.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].