Warsaw’s Ryan Cultice places his ball before making a putt on the ninth green at Rozella Ford Golf Club. (File photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WARSAW – The 79th Annual IHSAA Boys Golf State Tournament continues Thursday morning and the “Orthopedic Capital” will once again play the role of the Golf Capital for many area golfers.

After having last week’s golf sectional held at Rozella Ford Golf Club, area golfers will set their eyes on getting to state as the Warsaw Regional will be contested at the Stonehenge Country Club.

Area attention will be on the Warsaw golf team as it used a team score of 315 to clinch the third and final spot for the regional at Friday’s sectional. Warsaw was led by a 72 from senior Jonny Hollar. Other scores from the Tigers were Brandon Eckert’s 78, and 81 from Ryan Cultice and a pair of 84s from Michael Jensen and Sam Yeager, respectively.

Wawasee’s Tristen Atwood

Warsaw handled the pressures of the sectional well, and playing back on its home course can only give the Tigers a boost in confidence. But, of course, the field is not getting any easier.

Joining the Tigers from last week’s Warsaw Sectional will be Plymouth and two-time defending sectional champion Columbia City. Also joining the regional field will be Fairfield, Northridge and 2014 regional champion NorthWood from the Fairfield Sectional. Northridge emerged as the champion of that sectional.

Mishawaka Marian, Leo, Homestead and Western will be the other sectional champions entering the regional field. Other notable teams playing at Stonehenge this Thursday include Fort Wayne Dwenger, Elkhart Memorial, Penn and Fort Wayne Canterbury.

At last year’s regional NorthWood advanced to state along with Bishop Dwenger and Homestead.

Wawasee’s Tristen Atwood will be the only individual adding local flavor to the field as he qualified with a 77 at the sectional at Rozella Ford. Atwood will tee off at 9:20 a.m.

Other notable individuals include Michael Foy (Elkhart Memorial), Broc Mauer (Jimtown), Peyton Kime (Concord) and Zach Gurntner (LaVille). Gurntner enters the field with the lowest score from the sectional as he shot a 69 at Erskine Golf Course in South Bend on Saturday.

The top three teams and five individuals with the lowest scores not already on an advancing team will advance to the IHSAA State Finals to be held at the Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel on June 16-17.

First tee is set for 8 a.m. for the Warsaw Regional.

Warsaw’s Michael Jensen