Despite Wins, Warsaw Still Looking For Answers [VIDEO]
GOSHEN – The Warsaw golf team is still trying to get itself in sync before Saturday’s conference golf match. While the Tigers are struggling to find consistency, they are still maintaining their status as a top-tier team in the Northern Lakes Conference.
Warsaw picked up its third and fourth NLC wins on Tuesday when it bested Concord and Goshen on the fairways and greens of Maplecrest Country Club. The Tigers shot a 165, not quite what they were aiming for, but still low enough to beat out the Minutemen (173) and Redskins (183).
There was not really a standout performance to boast from any of the three teams. No golfer shot below 40 and Warsaw led all teams by picking up three birdies. But, as Tiger head coach Ben Barkey stressed, the lack of birdies was not the concern on Tuesday, it was the amount of double and triple bogies.
“I’m not concerned with how many birdies were had tonight,” said Barkey. “I want to see more pars and bogies, instead I see too many big numbers on holes. We had a few guys that had eights out there, were just can’t do that. Maplecrest is a very fair test of golf ability and you can look at the scores for all three teams today and see that the conference is down as a whole, at least some programs.”
Jonny Hollar picked up two of those birdies for the Tigers. Hollar birdied number one and number five but had some tough holes on the home stretch to finish with a 40. The score was tied for the lowest of the day.
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Brandon Eckert golfed the number four spot for Barkey’s team and picked up the other 40 on the evening. Ryan Cultice had his moments throughout the match on Tuesday and came in with a 41.
Will Petro, dropping down into the number two spot for the Tigers, had a rough day, struggling to find a rhythm and would finish with just a 44. Michael Jensen’s 46 was the fifth score for Warsaw.
Peyton Kime was the third and final player to shoot a 40 in Tuesday’s match. Kime led Concord with his score while Noah Gonyon was close behind with his 41. Goshen was led by a 41 from Joel Moyer. No other player shot below a 45 on either team.
With the conference match just four days away, Barkey is starting to get antsy waiting for his team to turn the corner.
“I’m just no pleased at all with a 165,” Barkey stated. “I’m very thankful we picked up the wins but 165 is just not a good score. The biggest problem we have is course management. We talked about playing in front of holes tonight, we stressed it and they still couldn’t make the adjustments.
“I think you can have one or two guys, in a group of five, that can go over just out of bad judgement. But I think every guy out here had one or two, individually, and that cost us some decent scores. You can’t play golf when you’re frustrated.”
Warsaw (5-2, 4-1) will look to shake some of the frustration before Thursday’s big match against two of the NLC’s most talented teams in Northridge and Northwood at Meadow Valley Golf Club in Middlebury. The NLC tournament is Saturday at Christiana Creek Country Club in Elkhart.
In the junior varsity match, Warsaw’s Reid Cameron led all golfers with his score of 40. The Tigers JV won comfortable with its score of 181 to remain undefeated in 2014. Goshen (213) edged out Concord (222).