CARMEL − The individual state title was out of reach for Jacob Modleski by the time he reached the 18th green Wednesday afternoon at Prairie View Golf Club.
The Guerin Catholic senior, who led the final round of the high school boys golf state finals by three shots earlier in the day, was staring down a 5-foot putt with a chance for bogey. Maybe not a chance for his own state title after a pair of top-five state finals finishes, but an opportunity to sink a second consecutive team state title for the Golden Eagles.
No throwing in the towel. This was the putt that mattered.
“It was good to see it go in,” Modleski said. “Even though it was for bogey, it was good to see that last putt go in.”
A record state finals crowd was glued to their phones for live scoring updates as defending champion Guerin Catholic and Westfield traded the lead in the final few holes. Guerin led by five shots through 15 holes. Then the lead swung back to Westfield by one shot.
It didn’t last.
Day 1: Guerin Catholic, Westfield battle for lead from the start
Guerin Catholic’s No. 2 golfer, junior Leo Wessel, after saving a bogey on the par-4 No. 17, was on the No. 18 greens in three shots. He sunk his downhill putt from 12 feet and pumped a fist. The putt by the University of Cincinnati recruit pulled Guerin Catholic even with rival Westfield, a fitting finish after Guerin edged Westfield by one shot in last year’s final round.
“When you can hear the cheers from Westfield start to build and build and build, I was kind of like, ‘Oh, they must be getting close,'” Wessel said. “I figured we must have had a 10-shot lead early because we didn’t have a guy over par through six holes. But when the cheers started building on the back nine, I knew Westfield was getting closer.”
That putt by Wessel also allowed him to finish his round with a 5-under-par 67. He was 6-under for the tournament to capture the individual state title by three strokes over teammate Modleski, Westview sophomore Silas Haarer and Leo junior Justin Hicks. , all finishing 3-under. Defending state champion Aidan Gutierrez of Valparaiso rounded out the top five at 2-under.
Modleski and Gutierrez were tied for the lead at 5-under going into the second round. But Wessel slowly made his way to the top of the leaderboard, helped there when Modleski had a double bogey on the par-5 No. 13 and a bogey on the par-4 No. 14.
“I know he wanted to go out with a bang,” Wessel said of his teammate. “I do feel for him, but it’s also conflicted because I got the win. He’s one of my best friends. He’s going to be a good player and he’s had a lot of wins this year.”
Still, Modleski approached the 18th green with a chance to nail down a state championship for his team. He sank his 5-foot putt and pumped a fist, a rare show of emotion for the normally cool and calm Notre Dame recruit. That pressure putt gave Guerin a two-day total of 589, two shots better than Westfield’s 591.
“You come in here looking for a team championship,” Modleski said. “Anything else when you are playing for your team is a bonus. With the round I had yesterday, I knew I was going to be in a position to win individually. But at the end of the day, you have to do what’s in the best interests of the team. A lot of times, those are going to be the same thing. Obviously it would have been nice to win, but at the end of the day there’s no one I’d rather have won than my own teammate. And at the end of the day, we got the most important job done.”
Modleski was named the Fred A. Keesling Mental Attitude winner.
Hamilton Southeastern shot a final-round 296, the best team score of the day, to finish third with a 600. Bloomington South was fourth with a 607 and Evansville North was fifth with a 612. Rounding out the top-10 individually were Fairfield sophomore Brayden Miller (sixth place, 143), Tipton senior Maverick Conaway, Bloomington South’s Happy Gilmore and Westfield’s Jake Cesare (tied for seventh, 144) and Carmel junior Mason Price and Westfield sophomore Will Harvey (tied for 10th145).
After a runner-up finish two years ago to Center Grove, Guerin has won back-to-back titles by a total of three shots over Westfield.
“My boys have lots of heart,” Guerin Catholic coach Mark Mathews said. “I think we played extremely well with four holes left. It looked like we were going to do what I asked them to do and have a big lead. That kind of evaporated. But I’m really proud of them. They are a great group of boys.”
It was heartbreak Part II for Westfield, which saw its own big lead in last year’s tournament melt away. The Shamrocks almost returned the favor, but could not quite finish. The good news is that the top two finishers for Westfield, Harvey and Jake Cesare, are only sophomores.
“What you say is, ‘That’s golf,'” Westfield coach Josh Bryant said. “You have to finish and out here on 17 and 18, you never know what’s going to happen. The boys competed all season. (Guerin) carded two 67s the last two days. That’s golfing your ball.”
Wessel joked that he was glad the individual title did not come down to a playoff with Modleski. But Modleski, after finishing second in 2021 and fifth last year, said he was more than happy to see his teammate win the individual title – as long as it came with the team championship.
“It was a great way to end the year,” Modleski said. “We played well. We knew we would have to play well at the state tournament. And we did. We came through. It says a lot about our individual players to play well when it really matters.”
IHSAA boys golf team scores
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Guerin Catholic 589; 2. Westfield 591; 3. Hamilton Southeastern 600; 4. Bloomington South 607; 5. Evansville North 612; 6. Zionsville 614; 7. Noblesville 618; 8. (tie) Leo, Valparaiso 626 10. (tie) Tipton, Center Grove 629; 12. Columbus North 631; 13. Homestead 636; 14. Floyd Central 642; 15. Chesterton 650; 16. Penn 662; 17. Evansville Memorial 667; 18. Northridge 683
This article originally appeared on the Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school golf: Guerin Catholic beats Westfield by 2 shots