Boys golf: Bloomington South in top 5, North chipping away at scores

A big weekend of golf that included the Western Indiana Conference Tournament on Saturday at Cascades and the SWIAC Tournament at Phil Harris followed by the Conference Indiana Tournament on Monday marks the start of the stretch run to sectionals.

Here's a look at how the county's squads are faring:

Panthers hanging in top 5

South went through a strong run, starting with a win at Country Oaks, site of this year's regional under the new post-season alignment. The Panthers shot a 297 to win by four over Evansville North.

Then South topped then-No. 2 Hamilton Southeastern, 304-305, to win at Sultan's Run in the Jasper Invite and a few days later, the Panthers edged Columbus North by the same score on the new layout at Harrison Lakes. At Rock Hollow, South came up on the short end of a one-shot decision, 308-309, to HSE, with Colton Watson unable to play.

"We had a great run," South Coach Dustin Carver said.

So did his top three golfers. Nick Bellush had a 74 at Country Oaks, 74 at Harrison Lake and tied for medalist with a 74 at Jasper. Then he posted a 2-under 70 to lead South at Rock Hollow, carding seven birdies to place second by two shots.

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Happy Gilmore tied for the top spot at Washington with a 72 and had a 1-under 72 at Harrison Lake, a 75 at Jasper and a 79 at Rock Hollow. Connor Byon has posted rounds of 74, 78, 78 and then went low with a 1-under 71 at Rock Hollow to tie for fourth. Watson came up with a 77 at Jasper.

The State Preview, which featured nearly every team in the top 20, was a bit tougher on the Panthers, who shot a 318 to tie for eighth. No. 2 Guerin Catholic (298), No. 3 Hamilton Southeastern (298) and No. 1 Westfield (300) led the field with three more teams at 310.

"Leading into Prairie View, I was pretty optimistic because we had been playing really well," Carver said. "We kind of struggled. Typically we had a couple of holes we struggled on that cost us. No. 13, the par 5, that hole alone cost us seven strokes.

"In order to compete at the highest levels, we can not give away strokes and expect to come out on top. We were behind a few teams that we had been beating regularly, like Evansville North and Silver Creek."

The unlucky No. 13 is a par 5 but gives long hitters a chance to get on in two, and if not, laying up is not tricky. It was all about choosing the right club, Carver said, and avoiding the bunkers on the right. No. 15, a challenging par 3, also gave the Panthers fits, Carver noted, with the team 4-over there.

Individually, Bellush is No. 2 in average at 74.5 to Gilmore (74.3) and Byon is next at 76. Bellush was 5-under at one point at Rock Hollow and 3-under going into 16 at Harrison Lake. "He's just been really solid and his approach had been a lot better, mindset wise," Carver said. "He's hitting the ball farther. His game is coming a long way."

Freshman Colton Watson (80) is looking for a bit more consistency down the stretch, then it's a matter of someone taking ahold of the No. 5 spot for the postseason. South will get to play six at the Trophy Club this weekend, then the CI meet comes Monday, so Harrison Bomba and Noah Spicer will have opportunities to prove themselves.

North picking up steam

The Cougars appear to be chipping away at their scores and head into a big tourney up at Brownsburg after shooting a 309 at their invite and a 303, winning on a fifth-score tiebreaker over Columbus North, on the conference course at Timbergate.

Having experience to lean on at the top in Jacob Knapp, Simon Deliyannis, Grant McRea and Petre Lee is a big reason why.

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"Our team's definitely a bit of an older team this year," coach Harrison Carmichael said. "And I think that the seniors have led by example trying to help the underclassmen manage their way around the course and not make mistakes that they did.

"Jacob, Petre, Simon lead the team very well and Grant is a junior who is a team captain who leads by example every day. Halfway through the season, I like where we're trending. We're playing much better golf than we have in years past and it just navigating around the course in a smarter manner."

Knapp and and Deliyannis have consistently been North's low men while McRea is right there with them.

"Very proud of Jacob, the way he's playing consistently, making good choices, Simon's the same," Carmichael said. "They're putting in the time and working hard."

Hogan Conder is making strong progress, having been as low as 78, and first-year golfer freshman Rex Speer is making a bid for the top five.

"(Conder) has improved more than any golfer I've seen in a year," Carmichael said. "It shows that he works very, very hard. He just hits the ball so much better than he did last year. Still needs to work on his putting and still needs to work on his short game. If he can tighten that up, he'll see another jump.

"You can make a jump from 90 to 80 but then going from 80 to 70 takes a long time."

North will find out where it stands among the state's best in the last half of May.

"We've got a lot of hard weeks ahead of us," Carmichael. "We got Brownsburg where we're only one of two unranked teams, so I think that's going to be a really good reality check for where we're at in the legitimate scene."

Edgewood outside looking in

A 350 is not what Edgewood coach Garry Lee was looking for at last week's North Invite and his Mustangs were looking for a bounce back this weekend as they host the Western Indiana Conference Tournament (for the first time) on the same Cascades course.

On April 25, Edgewood shot a 339 in a three-way meet with North and Martinsville. Luke Garrett had a 78 to lead the effort, while Carter Cheaney and Calvin McDonald each had 84s. At the North Invite, Garrett was steady with a 79 but it fell off from there as Cheaney had an 87 and McDonald a 90.

"I just can't figure out why we shot our worst 18-hole score we've shot all year," Lee said. "We play here every day. I don't understand it. As far as experience, we're still fairly young, but sometimes, you've got to figure something out and not make triple.

"Some days golf is golf and nothing goes right and that's what we had going on today."

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Lee would like to think his team can be in contention to make it to regional this year. South and North are the sectional favorites while Brownstown had a 322 and BNL had a 324 at the Invite, so the margin for error is small.

"Arguably this is one of the best teams I've ever had, as far as score-wise," Lee said. "I just watch them in practice every day and think, you know, a coach asked what I thought we'd shoot today and I said, 'Anywhere between a 330 and 360.' We've been pushing breaking 340 a lot.

"Some days, you just don't have it, so that another they've got to figure out, if it's not going well, what do I have to do to make bogey instead of triple? It's just playing the game."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Boys golf: Area teams making the turn on 2023 season