Mount Vernon News

WEST LAFAYETTE — Barry Roth may have lost a little sleep on Monday night analyzing a few of his putts at the Division II district golf tournament earlier in the day.

Despite hitting the ball well off the tees and in the fairways at River Greens Golf Course, Roth struggled on the greens and missed out on some birdie opportunities to finish with a 79.

His score put him one stroke away from a two-man playoff between Indian Valley’s Brian Gasser and Tuscarawas Valley’s J.R. Rowland to fight for a spot in the Division II state tournament.

“I was hitting the ball well off the tee to the green, but I had 36 or 37 putts. I had a little trouble rolling the ball and that really hurt,” said Roth. “I didn’t have any birdies. It was pretty windy and I lost a lot of strokes on the putting green.”

Though much of the field struggled on a windy day, Marion Pleasant managed to put together a 316 team score to win by eight strokes and qualify for state. Pleasant’s Mike Cook lead all golfers, carding a 74. Trevor Bright helped send Granville to state with a 78 to give the Aces a 324. Tuscarawas Valley finished third with a 327.

Though his West Muskingum team finished fourth in the standings at 341, Sam Satterfield managed to move on to state with an individual score of 75. Gasser beat Rowland in a one-hole playoff to take the final individual spot at the state tournament.

The Johnstown Johnnies fell short of the state tournament, shooting a 355 to take 11th place in the district. Leading the Johnnies, senior Heath Harvey rebounded from a 44 on the front nine to finish with an 82, while Cody Green shot an 85.

“This course is deceivingly difficult in that it does not look long,” said Johnstown head coach Chris Carlisle. “As always at this time of the year, the wind was a major factor. Last year it played to our advantage; this year it showed our inexperience. But it’s a nice course — very scenic. Even on a bad day you like playing at River Greens.”

Playing in their first district tournament, Cody Peterman and Zach Williams carded an 89 and a 99, respectively, to finish out the team scoring. Tim Williams carded a 101 for Johnstown.

“We are fortunate to finish near the middle of the field, especially because we’re so young,” said Carlisle. “We have two freshmen and two sophomores and three of them had no district tournament experience. This is a great learning experience for them.”

The Division II boys state golf tournament is set for Oct. 12 and 13 on the Gray Course at The Ohio State University Golf Course in Columbus. Tee times for Friday, Oct. 12, will be posted on the Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site (www.ohsaa.org) on Monday.