By RICHIE HALL
ULEN – Indiana’s high school boys golfers are getting to play in their state tournament, and it is inspiring some creativity.
On Monday, the 2020 Boys Team State Qualifier took place at several golf courses around Indiana. Three Hamilton County programs – Carmel, Guerin Catholic and Westfield – had players competing at Ulen Country Club in Lebanon.
Since this isn’t a school-sponsored event, it allowed the programs to field multiple teams, which GC and Westfield did. Guerin Catholic’s teams competed under the name Pebble Brook Junior Golf, while Westfield formed the Rocks Junior Golf Club. As for Carmel? It only had one team, but it probably had the most creative name of the bunch: Straight Off The Couch.
Senior Clay Stirsman explained the origin of the name.
“Throughout quarantine, you’re not playing as much golf as you’re used to,” said Stirsman. “I got the text that the guys wanted to play in this event. We tried to qualify when I was on the couch, and I said ‘You know what? Why not ‘Straight Off The Couch,’ because that’s kind of how it was.”
For coming off the couch, the Carmel team did pretty well. SOTC had the low score of the Ulen qualifier with a 294. Junior Sam Booth led the way with a 68, the lowest individual score of the day. Luke Prall carded a 73 and Stirsman, serving as the coach of the team, had a 74.
“I think we did well,” said Stirsman. “I think we weren’t expecting too much, just come out here and have fun with four of the seniors, and Sam got to tag along. We had a great day and for Sam to show up and lead the team is great. I think everyone enjoyed it, even though we haven’t all been playing too much golf. We all had a good day and we’re looking forward to Wednesday and Thursday.”
The top three teams at the qualifier advance to the Boys Team Finals, which take place today and Thursday at Purdue University’s Ackerman-Allen Course.
Guerin’s Pebble Brook Junior Golf Team 1 finished in second place with a team total of 298. Andrew White was Pebble Brook’s low man with a 72, followed by Connor McNeely with a 73 and Jacob Modleski with a 74.
Westfield’s RJGC Shamrocks earned the third spot with a 312. Drake Biggs led the team with a 74.
The Team Finals begin at 11 a.m. today, with 18 teams competing in the event. The Shamrocks tee off between 11:50 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., with SOTC going off between 2:20 and 3 p.m. Pebble Brook starts between 3:10 and 3:50 p.m.
Several other teams with county players competed at other qualifiers across the state. Carmel sent a second team to Harrison Hills in Attica, Fox Prairie Noblesville and Golf Royals (Hamilton Southeastern) competed at The Players Club in Yorktown, as did two more Pebble Brook teams. RJGC had a team play at Brookwood in Fort Wayne.
AT ULEN COUNTRY CLUB
Team scores: Straight Off The Couch 294, Pebble Brook Junior Golf Team 1 298, Rocks Junior Golf Club – Shamrocks 312, Pebble Brook Junior Golf Team 2 314, RJGC – Future Rocks 337, RJGC – Team 1 341, Raiders Golf Club 346, Brownsburg Bulldogs 356, Tigers Golf 360, Team Trojan 373, Trojan Horse 417, Far From Par 419.
SOTC scores: Sam Booth 34-34=68, Luke Prall 37-36=73, Clay Stirsman 36-38=74, Lucas Stitle 38-41=79, Nick Katsis 42-39=81.
Pebble Brook Team 1 scores: Andrew White 37-35=72, Connor McNeely 36-37=73, Jacob Modleski 38-36=74, Ben Burgan 41-38=79, Christian Hein 40-46=86.
RJGC Shamrocks scores: Drake Biggs 36-38=74, Joe Sawyer 41-35=76, Alec Cesare 40-39=79, Nolan Hall 44-39=83, Spencer Howe 39-46=85.
Pebble Brook Team 2 scores: Bryce Smerek 40-38=78, Connor Reitz 37-41=78, Jack Sciaudone 39-39=78, Leo Wessel 41-39=80, Scotty Smith 40-45=85.
RJGC Future Rocks scores: Cohen Steill 42-39=81, Matt Shull 42-41=83, Clark Schwartz 44-40=84, Gabe Nixon 45-44=89, Owen Gift 48-51=99.
RJGC Team 1 scores: Luke Snyder 46-38=84, Isaac Lutz 43-42=85, Camden Kooi 45-40=85, Brennan Decker 45-42=87, Jacob Riddle 48-42=90.
ABOVE: Joe Sawyer plays for Westfield’s Rocks Junior Golf Club and is part of the team that placed third and qualified for the Team Finals.
BELOW: Guerin Catholic had two teams play at Ulen, with its Pebble Brook Junior Team 1 finishing second and earning a spot in the Team Finals. Pictured: Ben Burgan, Andrew White, Bryce Smerek, Connor McNeely, Jacob Modleski. (Richie Hall)
