Tristen Atwood led all golfers with his 38 Thursday evening at South Shore Golf Course. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – It was a crowded night on the fairways of South Shore Golf Club as the Wawasee boys golf team hosted a trio of opponents for a warm-up before this weekend’s Wawasee Invitational.

The Warriors were far from their best on Thursday night but shot a total team score of 163, more than enough to pick up wins over the visiting squads from South Bend Riley (184), Whitko (190) and Manchester (191).

“I don’t think we really played all that well tonight, but that might be a good thing,” began Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone. “Sometimes it’s hard to play well twice in a row so this gives us a few things to focus on for Saturday.”

Wawasee did win the match comfortably but the Warriors were not shooting near the way they expect to be on their home course. There were no excuses from Coverstone or his players, it was just chalked up to a rough day on the course.

Tristen Atwood began his season with a rough couple of matches but rebounded Thursday night to lead all players with a 38. Atwood accomplished that with a trio of pars and a pair or birdies on one and four.

Grady Clingerman hits his way on to the fourth green.

Jeffrey Moore golfed the top spot for Wawasee and was a little more pedestrian after shooting an even 36 in competition earlier this week. Moore used four pars to turn in a 40 on the night.

Kaleb Perry stepped into the varsity lineup for an absent Mason Germonprez and turned in the team’s third-best score with a 42, highlighted by a birdie on six. Cal Heinisch was close behind with a 43, supported by four pars. Maclain Herr had an off night as he shot a 48 for the Warriors.

Wawasee hopes to get all of those scores way, way down this weekend as they host their annual invite that will include several area powers including Nothern Lakes Conference foes Warsaw, NorthWood, Northridge and Goshen.

“I just want us to play well,” Coverstone stated. “We want to win, but our main goal is to come out and shoot well, to shoot better than we did here tonight.”

Maclain Herr watches as his ball falls just shot of being a birdie.

Whitko will also return to South Shore this Saturday and hope for a better showing the second time around.

“We just did not play well,” stated Whitko head coach Don Zawlocki. “We had several kids with penalty strokes that we have to eliminate in order to be competitive. We should be shooting in the 170s trying to crack mid-160s. Shooting a 190 just is not indicative for what kind of team we are.”

The troubles started at the top for Whitko as No. 1 golfer Cole Bechtold shot a 48, parring just two holes. Will Peters and Grady Clingerman both parred four holes and would both finish with a 45 for the Wildcats.

Tim Gensch had one bad hole that dropped his final score to a 58 while Matt Hathaway shot a 52 but highlighted the day for Whitko with a birdie on number four.

Austin Luft led Riley with a 42. Manchester was led by Connor Eichenauer’s 43.

The Wawasee Invite is slated to begin at South Shore Golf Course at 9 a.m.

Wawasee’s junior varsity team was led by Cameron Adams’ 41. Whitko’s JV was led by a 56 from Austin Neuttrauer.

Cole Bechtold follows his drive on seven.