Coming up short: County golfers see season end at regional

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New Palestine coach Gregg Greene talks with Matt Kelley after his from nine during the IHSAA Regionals at The Players Club in Yorktown on Thursday, June 6, 2019. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)

YORKTOWN — It was close, but the 2019 high school boys’ golf season, for three county schools, came to a close at the Muncie Central Regional, conducted at The Players Club at Woodland Trails on Thursday.

With just the top three teams and top five individuals not on the top three teams advancing to next week’s IHSAA Boys Golf State Finals at Carmel’s Prairie View Golf Club, Greenfield-Central, New Palestine and Mt. Vernon knew a tough task was ahead.

“Our biggest hope was to get an individual through,” Greenfield-Central coach Russ Wiley said. “We knew getting our team out would be a tall order in this field.”

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New Palestine’s Quinn Dobbins and Mt. Vernon’s Sam McWilliams both carded a 77 for their rounds. They finished just two shots off the final individual qualifying spot, picked up by Drew Pickering of Heritage Christian, who finished with a 75. He beat out New Castle’s Brady Wheeler, who also had a 75, in a playoff for the final spot.

Team-wise New Palestine (338) placed 10th and Greenfield-Central (349) finished 12th. Mt. Vernon did not have its full team qualify for regional play.

Noblesville (300), Yorktown (301) and Hamilton Southeastern (309) earned the three team spots into next week’s state finals.

For the second straight tournament, one stroke determined the final team qualifying spots. At Tuesday’s sectional, Greenfield-Central (318) edged out Mt. Vernon (319) for the third position. On Thursday, New Castle, the Greenfield-Central Sectional champion, just missed reaching the state finals with a 310.

McWilliams was just two-over-par on the Par-72 course with three holes remaining, but he bogeyed each of the final three holes. He had battled back from being four-over-par through the first seven holes.

“Sammy hit the ball really well,” Mt. Vernon coach Tyler Wilson said of his sophomore golfer. “The bogeys he made coming in, he was just off.”

Mt. Vernon’s other qualifier, John Husar, finished with an 85.

Dobbins had a couple of birdies on the day, but also had a pair of bogeys late in his round. He was the top golfer for the Dragons, whose team score of 338 was 20 strokes better than when they played the course in April at the Yorktown Invitational.

“I know I’ll have some disappointed guys that feel they left some shots on the course,” New Palestine coach Gregg Greene said. “I’m proud of them. I love these guys, they’re fun to coach and they’ve had a successful season.

“We competed well (Thursday) with 18 good golf schools.”

Following Dobbins, lone senior Matt Kelley finished with an 85 and Josh Shinkle was close behind with an 86. Chris Guhl had a 90 and Matt Barada added a 92 to round out the New Pal scorers.

Kyle Arrowood was the low Cougar with a 79. Noah Mohler finished with an 83 and Zachary Archer had an 87.

“I knew Kyle, Noah and Zach were all capable of hitting that (qualifying) number,” Wiley said. “Kyle (who started on the back nine) was close on the back with a 39. He had a chance on No. 6 to go two-over-par. When he didn’t, it kind of let the air out.”

Jordan Wray had a 100 and Canyen Palmer finished with a 102 for the Cougars.

While the Marauders and Dragons only lose one varsity golfer to graduation, the Cougars came to the regional with an all-senior team. Greenfield-Central will graduate eight from a 15-man roster.

“They were committed to do well,” Wiley said of his team that qualified for the regional for the first time since 2013. “They stuck with it and kept getting better.”

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At Players Club at Woodland Trails, Yorktown, Ind.

Team scores (Top 3 teams advance)

Noblesville;300

Yorktown;301

Hamilton Southeastern;309

New Castle;310

Cathedral;312

Tipton;312

Heritage Christian;320

Union County;331

Muncie Central;337

New Palestine;338

Bishop Chatard;344

Greenfield-Central;349

Norwell;355

Eastbrook;356

Bellmont;358

Connersville;359

Wapahani;361

Richmond;364

Area scores

New Palestine (338)

Quinn Dobbins;38-39;77

Josh Shinkle;47-39;86

Chris Guhl;47-43;90

Matt Barada;43-49;92

Matt Kelley;44-41;85

Greenfield-Central (349)

Kyle Arrowood;40-39;79

Zachary Archer;45-42;87

Noah Mohler;43-40;83

Canyen Palmer;49-53;102

Jordan Wray;45-55;100

Mt. Vernon (NA)

Sam McWilliams;40-37;77

John Husar;43-42;85

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