City Golf: Collegians not congenial in openers
The 'Young Guns' had their day in the opening round of the Men's Championship flight in the 95th annual City Golf Tournament.
Among the six collegiate golfers heading up this year's field is Franklin rising sophomore Jacob Paine, who led the Grizzlies in their conference meet at the end of his first season. He had a solid day, especially with his putter, sinking an eight-footer on No. 15 to knock out tourney vet and former champ Brian Muehlhaus, 4 and 3, in an 8-9 matchup.
Two years ago, Paine took a shot at the Men's Championship flight as a senior at Bloomington South and fell in his opener to Logan Vernon. Two years older, he took care of business this time around to advance to the quarterfinals on Sunday.
"I definitely had the 'A game' today," Paine said. "Just felt like any misses I had were in the right spots and I felt like I played the course good."
Paine looked good for the Grizzlies this year, winning the Earlham Spring Invitational in mid-April and earning All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference honors with a top-10 finish in the league tourney. Paine also did well in the match-play tournament at Carmel recently, so he's warmed up and ready to go.
"So just playing in some tournaments leading up to this gave some good confidence, no doubt," Paine said. "I love match play. I love being able to play a person. Having someone to go up against just brings out the best in my game, I think."
Indeed, Paine knocked down a 30-footer on No. 6 as part of a strong day around the green.
"Putter was big for me today," Paine said. "I had a couple short putts I missed but that's expected around golf and made the ones that mattered.
"Muehlhaus played great and kept me on edge the whole time and started to make a comeback, so just glad to finish it out here and not carry it on any longer."
The quarterfinals will tee off at 7:30, led by Paine taking on defending champ and University of Southern Indiana standout Jason Bannister, who got by No. 16 Robert Wise, 4 and 3. No. 4 Logan Vernon, who has at least one more year of eligibility left at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, had a strong day in beating No. 13 Chad Stout, 7 and 5. Vernon will take on No. 12 Darren Fuller, who got an unexpected forfeit win when fifth seed and Bloomington North boys' coach Harrison Carmichael had to pull out after a family medical emergency.
Rain, delay
The loudest noise came from the clouds as rain and lightning sent the first seven groups who had teed off into shelter for a delay of just over three hours.
Play resumed at around 12:15 but a slow start coming out led to a two-hour-plus first nine for the back half of the Men's Championship field. Players were allowed to play lift, clean and replace the rest of the round as standing water littered the course and left several bunkers looking more like water hazards.
The decision was made to have only the championship flights complete their rounds with the possibility of more rain coming. New tee times were posted with men's regular flights going from 8:30-10:10 a.m. with the super seniors and seniors regular flights now following.
Junior boys will not begin play until next weekend in the semifinal round.
Day lights it up
In the lower half of the bracket, 2021 champ Jace Day started strong with a 6 and 5 win over 15th seed Marc Guyer.
Day, who just finished his junior year at USI as a teammate of Bannister's, fell hard in last year's semifinals and is ready to make another run at the top again after last year's effort was scuttled in the semis by a tricky pin placement on 17.
"Really just trying to be solid, trying to give away as little as I can," Day said. "Especially after that four-putt last year. I just try to use that as a learning moment to take my time everywhere and try to apply pressure where I can."
Not all was peachy coming in. His collegiate season was 'pretty decent' he said, but got tough at the end. A back injury made things tough and he's been working around that. "As long as I manage it, it should be OK," Day said.
Day was 2-up at the turn before pulling away.
"I started finding my rhythm around No. 7," Day said. "I had a couple tough holes early but was able to really get it going. Some good and much needed momentum going into tomorrow."
Day will be matched up with No. 7 Jake Miller, who won the closest match of the day in the Men's flight, 2 and 1 over No. 10 Chad Osborne.
Osborne trailed by four when he left the tee box on No. 14, but clawed back as Miller's driver gave him some problems. Then on 17, Osborne had a great chip to put his ball next to the hole, but Miller calmly two-putted to halve the hole, survive and advance.
The last pairing is a doozy as No. 3 seed Mitch Oard will meet Ball State junior and South grad Drew Todd.
Todd, playing in the City Tournament for the first time since he took on his brother Evan in the 2017 finals his freshman year with the Panthers, rolled to a 6 and 5 win over No. 11 Jeff Algood. Meanwhile, Oard held off No. 14 Brayden Bunger, 3 and 2.
BLOOMINGTON CITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
PHIL TALBOT MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Jason Bannister d. [16] Robert Wise, 4 and 3; [8] Jacob Paine d. [9] Brian Muehlhaus, 4 and 3; [4] Logan Vernon d. [13] Chad Stoute, 7 and 5; [12] Darren Fuller d. [5] Harrison Carmichael, JWD; [2] Jace Day d. [15] Marc Guyer, 6 and 5; [7] Jake Miller d. [10] Chad Osborne, 2 and 1; [3] Mitch Oard d. [14] Brayden Bunger, 3 and 2; [6] Drew Todd d. [11] Jeff Algood, 6 and 5.
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Gary DuDaly, bye; [8] John Kaiser d. [9] Chuck Vernon, 2 and 1; [4] Matt Seifers d. [13] John Hunt, 6-up, conceded due to injury; [5] Tim Gillespie d. [12] Dan Smith, 8 and 7; [2] Jim Alexander d. [15] Jan Bond, 8 and 6; [10] Ken Wilson d. [7] Henry Nethery, 19 holes; [3] Rick Scheid d. [14] Rick Scherer, 5 and 3; [6] Mark Chestnutwood d. [11] Matt Grubb, 1 up.
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Rory Brown d. [16] Dick Meacham, 8 and 6; [8] Roger Rainbolt d. [9] Tom Smith, 3 and 2; [4] Robin Harper d. [13] Joe Beane, 2 and 1; [5] Bob Hasty d. [12] Mike Vernon, 6 and 5; [2] Ike Martin d. [15] Fred Cooksey, 7 and 6; [7] Don Chastain d. [10] Kirby Gann, 4 and 3; [3] Jeff Smith d. [14] Gary Blackwell, 4 and 3; [6] Dan Neubecker d. [11] David Devitt, 3 and 2.
SUNDAY'S TEE TIMES
PHIL TALBOT MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
7:30 a.m.: [1] Jason Bannister vs. [8] Jacob Paine; [4] Logan Vernon vs. [12] Darren Fuller. 7:40: [2] Jace Day vs. [7] Jake Miller; [3] Mitch Oard vs. [6] Drew Todd.
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
7:50: [1] Gary EuDaly vs. [8] John Kaiser; [4] Matt Seifers vs. [5] Tim Gillespie. 8:00: [2] Jim Alexander vs. [10] Ken Wilson; [3] Rick Scheid vs. [6] Mark Chestnutwood.
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
8:10: [1] Rory Brown vs. [8] Roger Rainbolt; [4] Robin Harper vs. [5] Bob Hasty. 8:20: [2] Ike Martin vs. [7] Don Chastain; [3] Jeff Smith vs. [6] Dan Neubecker.
MEN'S REGULAR FLIGHTS
(First) 8:30: [1] Daniel Melwid vs. [8] Aaron Hancock; [4] Brad Scroggins vs. [5] Jay Chung. 8:40: [2] Nate Herr vs. [7] Justin Stacks; [3] Gerald Sloan vs. [6] Devin Price-Presslaff.
(Second) 8:50: {1] Charles Osborne vs. [8] Kevin Greve; [4] Dillon Donovan vs. [5] Matt Newman. 9:00: [2] Ryan Belcher vs. [7] Andrew Conder; [3] Brad McLaughlin vs. [6] Randy Lientz.
(Third) 9:20: [1] Chris Stedman vs. [8] Domenic Santarossa; [4] Kevin Gallagher vs, [5] Matt Jacobs; 9:30: [2] Justin Fox vs. [7] Jason Storm; [3] Nick Zwissler vs. [6} Jeremy Wise.
(Fourth) 9:40: [1] Russ Wilkie vs. [8] Jozey Hill; [4] Alex Bruce vs. [5] James Richardson. 9:50: [2] Devin Potts vs. [7] Michael Springer; [3] Eli Prather vs. [6] Jake Allman.
(Fifth) 10:00: [1] Brian Wise, bye. [4] Kyle McWhorter vs. [5] Alex Fox; 10:10 — [2] Wyatt Birch vs. [7] Anthony Alleva; [4] Inchang Park vs. [6] Jim Bothwell.
SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHT
(First) 10:20: [1] Joe McWhorter, bye; [4] Ramesh Venkataraman vs. [5] Mike Vernon. [2] Robert Milam, bye; [3] Burke Geene, bye.
SUPER SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
(First) 10:30: [1] Paul Wilson vs. [8] Doak Henry; [4] Steve McDonald vs. [5] Marty Hutsell. 10:40: [2] Brett Daniels vs. [7] George Finley; [3] Robbie Vernon vs. [6] John Cantwell.
(Second) 10:50: [1] Brian Werth vs. [8] Gary Walters; [4] Mike Thomas vs. [5] Paul Toddy. 11:00: [2] Jim Sims vs. [7] Jim Shea; [3] Sam Jantaraweragul vs. [6] Craig Spanburg.
(Third) 11:10: [4] Mark Deal vs. [5] Tom Dukes; [3] Rand McKamey vs. [6] Charlie Gill. [1] Steve Englert, bye; [2] Steve Layman, bye.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: City Golf: Collegians not congenial in openers
