Inaugural RHS girls’ golf season ends at regionals

The Rhinelander High School girls’ golf team wrapped up play for its inaugural season this past Wednesday, finishing 10th in a 10-team WIAA Division 1 regional at Brown County Golf Course near Green Bay.

The Hodags shot 453 as a team and were 70 strokes off the top four, which advanced to sectionals.

Overall, coach Adam Schmidt said his team hit the ball well, but struggled around the greens.

“It was a way different atmosphere. I mean, really we only played like three 18-hole matches. That was just a little bit different and then playing regionals,” he said. “Normally you know, the boys have first-tee jitters and all of our girls pounded to their drives. I think they all hit the fairway, or they were within that first cut of rough. Some of them, around the greens, kind of fell apart a little bit.”

The biggest problem, according to Schmidt, was that his squad short-sided itself a number of times around the greens, leaving awkward downhill and sidehill chips and putts much of the day. 

“I don’t think there’s a flat lie anywhere on those greens. The greens, they have a lot of undulation. And our girls tend always tend to not hit the ball short of the pin, below the pin,” he said. “The front of the greens are all like, would leave you an uphill putt. Our girls, for whatever reason — and we struggled with this all season — always were chipping or having downhill putts. These greens from coming down are like crazy breaks.”

That was the case for senior Nevaeh Anderson, who was the closest of the Hodag golfers to advancing to the sectional round. She shot 99 to finish tied for 23rd in the 50-player field. More importantly, she tied for seventh among players who were not on a sectional-qualifying team. Only the top four out of that group moved on to the next round and she wound up seven strokes off the cutline. 

Ultimately big numbers down the stretch cost Anderson as she shot 51 on the second nine. She made back-to-back triple bogeys on the 13th and 14th and, following a bogey on 15, made three consecutive double bogeys coming in.

“Nevaeh was really hitting her driver really well, hitting it straight. She was making good choices. On the holes she parred or got bogeys on, she was playing really good golf,” Schmidt said. “And the other ones, she like kind of would chip it back and forth. Her short game struggled a little bit.”

Claire Yunkers shot 109 to finish 42nd. She was only one stroke behind Anderson at the turn after shooting 49 on the opening nine but made a 12 on the par-5 14th as part of a second-nine 60. 

“Claire was playing really good golf, and she had a couple of really high numbers that she lost it too,” Schmidt said. “So that was a bummer. Especially, you know, like they’re seniors. So, like they’re done. That was kind of a bummer.”

Karlie Yunkers shot 116 to finish 46th. Ella Miljevich was 49th with a 129 and Hayley Schiek shot 135 to finish 50th.  

Bay Port shot 315 as a team to win the regional. The Pirates had four of the top five finishers in the event, including medallist Madelyn Gicius, who finished with a 5-over round of 76. Green Bay Notre Dame, De Pere and Wausau East/West also advanced in the team standings. 

Though the first season for the Hodag golfers is over, Schmidt said it was an enjoyable one in which the team made significant improvement.

“The growth from the experience of playing was really good. It was nice having the girls. All of them are very polite. It was just a fun time. I really enjoyed coaching them,” he said. “The girls are just so much (fun). They’re just so relaxed. And they’re just excited to improve, and they did. They improved a lot from the first from the first day. I look at them like Hayley, she started swinging a little bit harder at the ball. Her swing looks a lot better. Karlie and Claire, their swing looks great. They improved a lot. Ella’s short game, I think, improved. Nevaeh improved over the season.”

Anderson and the Yunkers sisters will graduate off of this year’s squad, leaving four underclassmen. Schmidt said the team is already talking about ways to build its numbers going into next year. 

“The girls were like, yeah, we’re going to talk to some other girls. They’re excited. Everyone I talked to, they said they all wanted to come back, so that’s good news,” he said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].