News

Dec 09, 2023

Owls, Braves meet early expectations in 2023

Golf coaches Jim Hoffman of Seymour and Brandon Allman of Brownstown Central set goals for their teams in the Seymour Invitational on Wednesday at Shadowood Golf Course. Both coaches said their teams

Golf coaches Jim Hoffman of Seymour and Brandon Allman of Brownstown Central set goals for their teams in the Seymour Invitational on Wednesday at Shadowood Golf Course.

Both coaches said their teams reached their goals.

Hoffman said he wanted to see the Owls drop by several strokes from their performance Monday at Bloomington, and they did that by scoring 420, an improvement of 48 strokes.

“We feel a lot better,” he said. “We knew that Monday was going to be tough. There were some nerves from a couple freshmen. Everybody was really starting out in their first tournament. I knew our score would come down quite a bit.”

Brownstown Central’s Abby Schroer hits her approach shot at Shadowood Golf Course on Wednesday.

Dakota Locker | The Tribune

Seymour’s Caroline Dennis tracks her shot during the home invitational for the Owls.

Dakota Locker | The Tribune

Trinity Lutheran’s Allison Shockey sinks a putt on the back nine for the Cougars.

Dakota Locker | The Tribune

Allman was hoping the Braves could break 400, and they did by shooting 398 to place fourth.

“Our goal was to break 400,” he said. “Our girls, even though they had their career bests, are a little upset. They know they left some shots out there. There were several girls that I saw struggling around the green. I saw a couple four-putts.”

“That’s good because I’ve got a group of girls who want to get better and want to improve. As a team, they want to get out of the sectional. We’ve got to make sure we keep going in the right direction.”

Center Grove entered two teams with its No. 1 squad placing first with a score of 290 and its B team being second with 309. Eight of the nine Trojans shot scores of 78 or lower.

Lexi Stewart of Center Grove was the medalist with a 6-under par 34-33-67, and her teammate, Camille Short, was second with 72.

New Albany was third with 376, Brownstown was fourth with 398, Seymour was fifth at 420, followed by Columbus East at 423, Madison at 444 and Jennings County at 482.

Gracie Reynolds was low for Brownstown with 48-45-93. Jayda Clodfelder shot 49-51-100, Khloe Lingenfelter shot 48-54-102, Abby Schroer shot 54-49-103 and Megan VonDielingen shot 54-55-109.

“For early in the season, (93) is pretty good,” Reynolds said. “My putting was pretty good. I need to work on my driver. This is my second-best tournament score. I was pretty proud that we broke 400. That was our goal last year, and I’m glad we did it in our first tournament this year.”

She said she shot 89 in the regional in Montgomery last year.

“This is a good start for our first tournament of the year,” Allman said. “Some of the girls were nervous to get started, but once things settled down, they got into a groove a little bit. I don’t think we had too many penalty shots.”

Katie Cottrill was low for the Owls with 49-43-92, and she was followed by Shana Spray 49-53-102, Emmy Followell 56-57-113, Caroline Dennis 54-59-113 and Emily Windley 63-61-124.

This was Cottrill’s tournament low, as she shot 93 at Otis Park in Bedford last year.

Cottrill finished strong with a birdie on her final hole.

“Hole 18 is about 320 (yards) for women,” she said. “I drove the ball straight down the middle. Then I hit my four iron next to the green, chipped on and I had a 2-foot putt for birdie. That is the way to finish. I was very proud.

“I think my chipping was pretty good, but unfortunately, my putting did not equal as good,” she said. “I shot 107 at Bloomington, so 92 is much better. I didn’t play as much during the summer as I wanted to. I was pretty busy this summer with band camp. We had a lot of band and vacations, as well. I will be focusing on my putting in practice.”

Hoffman said he saw improvement all the way round.

“We probably left some strokes on the greens. We hit the ball really well off the tee. Our iron shots were a lot better. Chipping and putting can always be worked on,” he said. “We will continue to improve as the year goes on. We’re notorious for trending down. We’ll be in the 370s and 380s before it’s all over. We’ve got a good bunch of young ladies with good attitudes.

“They’re working hard, just three practices in. We’ll be fine. Katie left probably seven or eight strokes out there with her putting. She could probably have shot in the mid-80s. It was just a lot of fun today.”

Allison Shockey was Trinity’s only player, and she shot 56-62-118.

She said she was hoping to post a lower score.

“I was hoping to shoot about 100, maybe a little less than 100,” she said. “I need to work on my chipping and putting. I had pretty good distance off the tee. I’m a little bit disappointed.”

All three county teams will be off until Monday. The Owls host Trinity, New Albany and Salem, and Brownstown will host Mitchell.