Weather plagues RHS golfers during long week

The Rhinelander High School golf team battled Mother Nature all of last week. She finally won out on Friday.

Cold and snow forced the postponement of the third leg of the Great Northern Conference golf meet, scheduled for Rhinelander’s Northwood Golf Club Friday afternoon. With morning snow flurries and the things not getting much warmer by the afternoon, Hodag coach Adam Schmidt the course made the decision not to allow the round to take place as scheduled. 

As it stood, it would have been Rhinelander’s fourth round in four days following the leg two of the GNC meet Tuesday, April 28 at Inshalla Country Club in Tomahawk and the two-day Battle on the Border in Somerset and Hudson. The Hodags finished 22nd in that 36-hole event with a two-day total of 697. 

Schmidt said a bit of a respite wasn’t the end of the world for his team.

“I mean the boys are ready and willing to play, but just to take it, be able to take a night off with this cold weather, it’s just a nice opportunity for us not to have to play it,” he said. “The course said that there’s snow on the greens, and I guess there’s some more supposed to come.”

A make-up date for Rhinelander’s conference round had not been announced as of press time. 

The Hodags battled cool, windy conditions in the Battle on the Border as well, which featured a mix of Wisconsin and Minnesota schools. Rhinelander shot 351 in last Wednesday’s opening round at St. Croix National in Somerset and followed with a 346 the following day at Troy Byrne Golf Club in Hudson.

“It was really, really cold over in Hudson,” Schmidt said. “I had a quarter zip on, a sweatshirt, a vest, and I’ve got like a winter coat ... and I was so cold, and I wore my rain pants too. It was cold.”

Chase West led the Hodags in the two-day tournament, finishing 78th with a score of 172. He shot a 15-over round of 87 Wednesday at St. Croix National, followed by a 14-over round of 85 Thursday at Troy Byrne. 

Hank Kowieski was two strokes behind West in 86th (89-85), Blake Petroff had the Hodags’ low round Wednesday with an 85, but shot 90 on Thursday to finish 93rd with a 175. Grant Gremban was a stroke further back in 99th (90-86). JV call-ups Nate Olds (123rd, 98-97 195) and Drake Nelson (125th, 106-98 204) rounded out the Hodag contingent. 

“I mean everybody played the same course, but our guys just were not used to playing that caliber, of course. And they struggled,” Schmidt said. “The first day we played at St. Croix National, and the greens were so fast. I thought we were really gonna struggle with putting, and we were really actually gonna struggle with putting, we struggle with chipping. Like they struggle with being able to get the ball close to the hole.

“Just really getting the ball off the tee like in a good spot was a challenge, hitting that right location. Some of the guys did really good hitting their drivers. Then we try to like be smart, and it just wouldn’t go like we thought it would.”

Orono, Minn. won the two-day tournament with a total of 598, beating fellow Minnesota schools Cretin-Derham Hall and Detroit Lakes by three strokes for the title. Jake Palen of Cretin-Derham Hall was the medalist with an even-par total of 143. He shot a 2-under round of 70 at St. Croix National and followed with a 2-over 73 at Troy Byrne to win by three strokes over a trio of golfers. 

The Hodags are back in action today for the next leg of the GNC tournament, which will be hosted by Antigo at Bass Lake Golf Club in Deerbrook.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].