Mount Vernon News

PATASKALA — Seven local golfers got a lot of playing experience at the Division III Central District golf tournament held at Cumberland Trails Golf Course on Tuesday. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to apply that experience at this year’s state tournament.

The competition was as fierce as anticipated, and the greens played faster than normal for the Centerburg High School golf team and two Fredericktown High School golfers. Overall, the Trojans finished with a team score of 335 to take seventh place in the field of 11 teams.

Winning the team competition, the Garaway Pirates were led by solid performances from Kevin Miller and Josh Miller, who shot 74 and 77, respectively. Tyler Gerber and Mike Dague both shot 78 to help the Pirates to a 307 overall. Alex Simson shot a 72 to help Columbus Academy to a second-place finish at 313. Both teams will compete in the state tournament Oct. 12 and 13.

Showing the strength of the Central District, Josh Agin (Bishop Rosecrans) shot 70 to finish 2-under par and take the top individual award. Mount Gilead’s Adam Van Houten was right on his heels with a 71 (1-under par), taking the second and final individual spot at the state tournament.

Fredericktown’s Tyler Cunningham and Cody Grubaugh shot 94 and 99, respectively.

“In the Central District, you have a lot of the private schools and they have a lot of talented players. It’s always one of the toughest districts to get out of,” said Fredericktown head coach John Dumbaugh. “The fact that they rolled the course this morning made those greens really fast. It makes them lightning fast. We don’t see a lot of that throughout the year and we missed a lot of putts. They were close to the cup, but at that point they were just flying by.”

Freshman Garrison Myles lead the Centerburg Trojans, shooting a 37 on the back nine to finish the day at 78 while Cliff Grubb finished at 84. Jacob Wollett carded an 86 while Troy Lemke went into the clubhouse with an 87. David Osborne had a 98, bouncing back on the back nine with a 46 that was highlighted by a birdie on the 17th. It came on a long chip shot into the hole.

“The biggest thing that killed us today was the greens,” said Centerburg head coach Nathan Altizer. “We haven’t played on anything that was as fast as it was today. We had a lot of three putts today, so that’s something that we’re going to have to work on for next year. It’s a good learning experience. Last year, we were here, but we were just happy to be here — we didn’t play really well. This year we had bigger goals coming in. Hopefully, this is a hump we can get over next year.”