MONTGOMERY — Qualifying for state in boys’ golf as an individual now is an awful fine line, one that better not stray too far away from the fairway and greens or even par.
Bloomington North’s Jacob Knapp figured he might have a chance if the team didn’t make it out, but only two players receive invitations now, so there’s little room for error, bad decisions and lost shots.
Knapp, a senior, kept everything in line on Thursday in the Washington Regional at Country Oaks, using four birdies to offset three bogeys for a 1-under 71, a second place finish and his first trip to the IHSAA state finals.
“It means a lot,” Knapp said. “From losing my freshman year to COVID and having a good three years and finishing up going to state my senior year, it’s been good. It feels rewarding for sure.”
The lefty is the first Cougar to make state since Evan Todd in 2019.
“At 18 green, this complete stranger said, ‘That kid’s a player,'” North coach Harrison Carmichael said. “And I just responded, ‘He’s an even better person.’ You’re not going to find a better kid. I’m really proud of him, happy for him. He works hard and I think it couldn’t have happened to a better person.”
Knapp was coming off a 75 on his home course at sectional and had yet to play a competitive round this season at Country Oaks, but he was prepared to go low.
“I had a round yesterday that made me feel more confident that I’d be able to shoot a 71,” he said.
Great on the greens
His putter just made him even more confident as he stayed steady from start to finish.
“I made a few birdies putts that saved me,” Knapp said, noting a long putt on the par 3 No. 2 for birdie. “Just some good drives and good approach shots.”
Country Oaks can provide for some tricky approaches. It’s not hard for a second shot to find a steep slope or even a blind shot to the green. Knapp’s touch there and with his lag putts set up several easy tap-ins.
“This course requires that,” Carmichael said. “The greens are very oddly shaped and if you get on the wrong side of something, you’re going to have to have good speed control and he showed that. He also made really good decisions today.”
He ended up tying with Jasper’s Luke Shappard at 71 for the two qualifying spots. Even one bad shot might have cost him with another Jasper player sitting at 72.
“I just made some putts and had fun and tried to just hit the ball,” Knapp said. “And don’t really think about it too much.”
South settles for second
The race to win a regional title was figured to be a battle to be as close to par as possible and No. 5 Evansville North won with a 292 (72-73-73-74), topping defending champ No. 4 Bloomington South (296) by four shots, most of those given away on the front nine. Evansville Memorial jumped up to take the third spot at 302, knocking out No. 12 Jasper (306), Bloomington North (310) and Brownstown Central (316).
“Kudos to Evansville North, they played great,” South coach Dustin Carver said. “This is their main regional site, so they it quite a bit. Just a couple shots here and there, we could have been champions. But we’re moving on to the state championship.”
Knapp and the Panthers will be back in action next Tuesday and Wednesday at Prairie View in Carmel in the IHSAA state finals.
Back nine saves South
South sat fifth after all the teams had made the turn, with half the field starting on the front nine and the other half on the back, which is easier to score on.
The Panthers (154) trailed playing partners Evansville North (146) and Jasper (150) as well as Evansville Memorial (150) and Bloomington North (153).
Fortunately for South, it had nine lives, nine holes on the back to make up the lost ground and they did, from Gilmore’s 32 to win medalist honors with a 70 to a pair of 35s by Byon and Watson, giving each of them 76s and Bellush’s 36 to finish at 74. Harrison Bomba carded an 88.
“I looked at the turn scores and saw where we were,” South coach Dustin Carver said. “And I thought, a couple of the teams that were ahead of us there, I knew they had started on the back, so I was thinking maybe we could go a little bit low on the backside and sure enough they stepped up and did their part.”
That Watson was one of them was an impressive thing for a freshman in that situation.
“He’s got some game,” Carver said. “And I don’t say a whole lot to him because I just kind of let him play his game. And for him to shoot that and to birdies the last, he’s got a little bit of moxie in him which is nice to see. Colton’s playing some great golf for us.”
As boys’ basketball coach/athletic director JR Holmes told Carver, ‘It’s all about survive and advance.’ South’s goal of winning state is still alive.
“We move on and it’s a good thing.” Carver said. “The mindset of playing fearless has to set in and not playing fearful and I thought that we kind of got off to that fearful start and we were just hesitant and we flat turned it on on the backside.”
Happy leads the charge
Gilmore finished the backside with a 32 and it easily could have been a 29, with a chip for eagle lipping out on 16 and two putts coming up a foot short on 17 and 18.
“I started off four-putting the first hole,” Gilmore said. “So confidence was low early. But I knew if I could just keep patient and I kept hitting the ball about the same. I was hitting it well all day. Then the back nine, I got my first putt to fall on 13, made a good par putt on 14, made eagle on 15 and then hit it close and got the putts rolling.”
“To do what he did on the backside is pretty special,” Carver said.
The Panthers never panicked down the stretch.
“I trust the guys,” Gilmore said. “I knew that they would all come together and have a good round. I wasn’t worried about them. I knew if I did my part that we’d get the job done.”
North makes top five
The Cougars stayed in contention most of the day as Simon Deliyannis fired a solid 75, Grant McCrea had an 81 with Hogan Conder giving North an 83 out of the No. 5 spot and Rex Speer shot a 102, a round that was spoiled by a load of trouble on No. 12, his third hole of the day.
“I was really proud of the kids,” Carmichaels said. “All year long we’ve talked about how every shot counts. Coming up eight shots short, you watch a triple here and a triple there. I kind of got the sense somewhere around the 12th to 13th hole that we’re probably going to bite ourselves for a few of those triples.
“But each kid I saw make a triple turned around and had a good hole after it. They bounced back. There was no quit, they didn’t mope or pout.”
Edgewood’s Garrett ready to return
Edgewood junior Luke Garrett had a 39-38—77 in his first regional appearance to tie for 22nd.
“It was really good,” Garrett said. “The course was not too bad but I struggled on the greens a little bit and I think I missed a short birdie putt on the last four or five holes in a row. Other than that, I played all right.”
He’s ready to come back and take another stab at it.
“It gives me a good idea of where the rest of the competition stands in the regional for next year,” Garrett said. “I know what I have to do. But it was fun. I went in with no expectations.”
Bedford North Lawrence also had a couple of individual qualifiers as Houston Corbin and Colton Staggs each shot 76s. Corbin posted two 38s while Staggs went 40-36, finishing up with a birdie on 18.
Springs Valley ended up 15th at 360, led by 85s from Jake Hammond and Blake Albright.
WASHINGTON REGIONAL
Team scores (top 3 advance to state) — 1. Evansville North 292; 2. Bloomington South 296; 3. Evansville Memorial 302; 4. Jasper 306; 5. Bloomington North 310; 6. Brownstown Central 316; 7. Evansville Mater Dei 319; 8. Terre Haute North 328; 9. South Spencer 332; 10. Gibson Southern 333; 11. Vincennes Lincoln 334; 12. Terre Haute South 341; 13. South Knox 342; 14. Northview 353; 15. Springs Valley 360.
Individual leaders — 1. Happy Gilmore, BS, 70; T2. Jacob Knapp, BN 71; Luke Shappard, J, 71; 4. Brody Sorrell, EN, 72; Caleb Schnarr, J, 72.
Complete results at ihsaa.org/boys/golf.
Contact Jim Gordillo at [email protected] and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Boys’ golf: Bloomington South, North’s Knapp punch tickets to state