Warsaw’s Tim Ahlersmeyer chips onto the green during play at the Bob Turner Classic at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club. (Photos by Jim Harris)

LEESBURG – Hailing from Fort Wayne to Bourbon, some of the regions best boys golf teams were on display Monday night at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club for the annual Bob Turner Classic. With an outstanding team score of 298, No. 8 NorthWood claimed first place, edging out Fort Wayne Carroll (301) and conference foe No. 12 Warsaw (306).

Yes, for the fourth time this season the talented Tigers fell to their Northern Lakes Conference rival. Just two days ago the Tigers topped the Panthers at Maplecrest CC in Goshen to clinch a share of the NLC crown. But it was the Panthers who came out on top today, thanks in part to their number one golfer, Dylan Gessinger, who shot a 69. This score came as no surprise to Warsaw head coach Ben Barkey.

“Yeah, that 69 is a great score. That’s the second time now that Dylan has shot a 69 against us on 18 and they (NorthWood) have beaten us both times with him doing that. That’s a great score for this course and we should have had our guys closer to that than we had here today,” stated Barkey.

While the Tigers posted solid scores on the day, led by Jon Schram’s 74, but it was just not the day Barkey was looking for.

“We had good scores but with this being a par-70 course, we needed to do better. I would have been happy with anything sub-305 but a 306 is fine. We just have to keep working. Losing to NorthWood again does not effect us really but it should be a sign that we need to keep getting better,” Barkey said.

Outside of Schram’s 74 the Tigers brought in other solid scores, most notably was Tim Ahlersmeyer’s 75. Jonny Hollar scored a 75 and the fourth score for the Tigers was Evan Cultice’s 80. Will Petro, the Northern Lakes Conference medalist along with Gessinger, was the fifth-man score for Warsaw bringing in an 83.

Dylan Cousins of Wawasee tees off.

Steve Coverstone brought his Warriors down for the Classic and left with the same problem he had before the 18-hole event.

“We still have too many big numbers out there,” said Coverstone. The coach continued, “It’s the same story over and over. I’ve been saying it all season and we are still shooting big holes. Overall, 327 is right where we should be as a team but you look at that and then you look at our individual scores and it can be better.”

The Warriors usual low-men Dylan Cousins (81) and Luke Jackson (83) had off days which hurt the team’s final score but Coverstone did not seem too concerned with how his team did at TLCC with sectionals coming up next week.

“We did not play well today but we did not play poorly either. With sectionals right around the corner and us still facing the same problems we had early in the season, we have to hit a big learning curve real quick. There are holes at Black Squirrel that you have to be careful on or you’re in real big trouble. We have to avoid those kind of mistakes,” Coverstone stated.

Jeffrey Moore posted an 85 while Tristen Atwood finished with an 86. Freshman Cal Heinisch was the surprising low score on the day for the Warriors, shooting a 78 improving from his score of 85 at the NLC tournament on Saturday.

Tanner Neeley of Tippecanoe Valley takes aim at an approach shot.

Tippecanoe Valley Viking head coach Roger Moriarity may have been one of the few local coaches to leave with a sense of satisfaction on Monday night. Moriarity’s squad finished tenth in the tournament out of eleven teams, but that was not the number the Viking head coach was looking at.

“We shot a 339 tonight, that’s outstanding for us. In fact, it’s our lowest score of the year. We just shot a 349 at our conference meet so this is a good day for us,” Moriarity said with a smile.

“Only two of our kids had played this course before so that made it tough to have an idea of how we would do here today. I know that compared to the rest of the field our score does not stack up well but we don’t have any seniors this year so we are building up our core and we hope to be running in the middle of the pack for sectionals. Today is definitely a step in the right direction,” stated Moriarity.

The Vikings were led by Bryce Zimpelman’s 83. Valley also got help with 85’s from both Tanner Neeley and Josh Tucker while Ben Shriver shot and 86 and Trevor Neeley finished with a 98.

Ryan Rapp of Triton sends his putt toward the abyss during play at the Bob Turner Classic.

The boys from Bourbon also made some noise at the country club as Triton finished fourth with a score of 308. The Trojans were led by Quentyn Carpenter’s 71 and Ryan Rapp’s 74. Tanner Shepherd and Greg Music both posted 85’s and Lucas Shafer finished with the third lowest Trojan score, an 80.

The Warsaw junior varsity filled in as the eleventh team for Monday’s tournament and finished with a score of 340. Brandon Eckert’s 82 led the Warsaw Orange team.

Medalist for the night was Carroll’s Garrett Leeper who shot an outstanding round, finishing with a 65.

2013 Bob Turner Classic Final Team Scores

NorthWood – 298
Fort Wayne Carroll – 301
WARSAW (Black) – 306
TRITON – 308
Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger – 309
Penn – 314
Homestead – 314
Fort Wayne Canterbury – 316
WAWASEE – 327
TIPPECANOE VALLEY – 339
WARSAW (Orange) – 340