Triton Golf: Swihart Goes Low, Trojans Take Wet And Windy HNAC Tourney
CULVER — Although they may not have appreciated it at the time, the Trojans’ practice round in windy weather at Mystic Hills this week turned out to be the best possible preparation for the miserable conditions at Saturday’s Hoosier North Athletic Conference Championships.
Just as they were coached, Triton’s top five all bunched together around 40, and the consistent Trojans took home the conference team title in a rainy, windy and cold HNAC tourney that was called after nine holes of play at Mystic.
Triton carded 158 in its best round of the season at the Pete Dye-designed course in Culver, LaVille finished second with a 166, and defending Hoosier North champ Winamac finished third with a 168.
“It’s a good day obviously. Even with the wind today, that is the best nine-hole round that we’ve shot there. That is the third time we’ve played there in a match. We’ve probably played there three other times in practice rounds, and I don’t know if we’ve broken 170, so to shoot 158 was really good for us,” said Triton head coach Jack Carpenter.
“Maybe one of the best things was that we took a practice round, I want to say Wednesday at Mystic Hills, and the conditions were so, so windy. I told my assistant coach this morning, I said ‘You know what? That may have been the best thing that happened to the kids because now the conditions are very much the same as what it was on Wednesday.’”
The icing on the cake for Triton was that each of its top five broke the top eight in the tournament field to earn All-HNAC honors, and number five Bryce Swihart claimed the individual conference title with the Trojans’ low round of 38.
Swihart’s 38 on the front at Mystic left him tied with LaVille’s Michael Butler, and the two played off for the low medal on Hole 10, which Swihart promptly parred to take home titleist honors.
Confidence can be a huge asset in the game of golf, and Swihart never really seemed rattled in the playoff said Carpenter.
“He had to hit first; he drew the short straw so to speak, but he piped it,” Carpenter recalled.
“He showed very good composure in the playoff, didn’t look nervous. Hit two solid shots to the green and two-putted for the four.”
Despite the woeful conditions, the Trojans avoided big numbers throughout their lineup Saturday as each shot right around 40. Braden Kreft carded 40, Isaac Wall and Beau Hepler both finished in 41, and Spencer Johnson turned in Triton’s second best score of the day from the fourth grouping with a 39.
“Usually we don’t have that kid that’s going to shoot par so we did what we talked about — kind of bunching around that 40 area, which is the best way for us to be able to compete,” explained Carpenter. “What a great thing to have your four and five man be your low kids, which also as I told the kids shows me we can go even lower with the other kids picking up just a little bit. That’s how you would draw it up so a very good day for the kids.”
Swihart’s low medal represented a bit of a disappointment for Kreft, who was playing on the 17th when the tournament was finally halted due to rain. He was sitting at 1 under on the back side with five pars and a birdie through 16, while Butler had already put up some big numbers on the backside. Nevertheless, Kreft was the first player to pat Swihart on the back after Saturday’s tilt was officially cut short.
“I’ll tell you a testament to Braden Kreft: He’s been the most consistent kid all year, and he was the first player to congratulate Bryce on winning,” Carpenter said. “He has a heart of gold, he has a great amount of integrity, and he’ll take that as a learning experience.
“He’s a class kid, and he’ll be the first to tell you he’s disappointed but also be the first to congratulate and be happy for his teammate as well as the team for winning.”