Overdue congrats for area linksters Roberts and Gregory
With all due apologies to Laker baseball this column is going to be about golf.
Albeit belated, congrats are in order for area golfers Colden Roberts of Eastern Greene and Linton-Stockton's Jacob Gregory who competed two weeks ago in the IHSAA boys golf regional at Country Oaks Golf Club.
The two qualified for regional play as two of the top three individual players not on advancing teams from the Linton-Stockton Sectional at Phil Harris.
The pair had to endure five-hour rounds on a 90-degree day walking up and down the hills of the rolling terrain at Country Oaks.
"It was a long and hot day," Gregory said.
And the course at Country Oaks was playing long, at just over 6,700 yards.
"It plays pretty tough," Roberts said. "It plays long."
Gregory said, "It's a tough course. I had a couple holes I really did struggle on."
Gregory and Roberts both started play on the 10th hole at Country Oaks and both toured the back nine in 42 strokes.
Roberts' opening 42 was marked by a tough stretch that included a four-putt at the short par-4 13th, a chunked third shot at the par-5 15th and a tee shot that came to rest at the base of a tree off the 17th fairway which forced Roberts to play his recovery shot left-handed with his club turned upside down.
Roberts came back with a birdie at the par-5 first hole to start off his second nine and finished strong with a 38 to post an 80 for the round.
"Colden Roberts had a solid 80 out here today," Thunderbirds coach Mike Caldwell said.
"Hopefully Colden will see that only six strokes separate him from the state golf tourney."
Roberts was pleased overall with his round of 80.
"I'm pretty proud of it. I had a fun time."
"Having fun" - that has been a recurring theme with Roberts who said after learning his score at the Phil Harris sectional would be good enough to advance, "It was tough to play in these conditions with the suspension of play but I stayed focused and had a pretty fun time out there."
I should be learning something here...
After his opening-nine 42, Gregory came home in 47 for an 89.
"It just seemed like Jake just couldn't get anything going," Miner coach Chadd Anderson said. "He basically played bogey golf. But he came through with a par on the last hole to break 90."
Golfers often say to one another after a good shot or a well-played hole on a less-than-stellar day, "That'll keep you coming back."
And that closing par will surely bring Gregory back - as if he wouldn't have been back anyway!
The allure of the game lies in those perfectly-struck shots, the ball flying through the air - "Awesome in its power and majesty," as former television golf commentator Ben Wright once said - and it leaves one always wanting for more.
A golf writer named Tom Coyne wrote, "Golf is as perspective-altering and priority-skewing as any opiate out there."
Coyne was right.
To me, both golfers' performance at the regional embodied the true spirit of competition.
The strength of the field meant that neither had more than a remote chance of advancing to the state tournament but they showed up and competed, knowing that it was going to be a long, hot, difficult day on a challenging course.
Golf is hard. And tournament golf is even harder. Players feel pressure on every single shot, every putt.
Tournament golf is not like hacking it around with your buddies.
I know both players at the end of the day felt like they could have done better. But they both fought through their individual struggles and persevered to the end.
I'm reminded of Teddy Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" speech. Roosevelt said, in part, "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; who strives valiantly, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Chadd Anderson said of Gregory, "I'm proud of him for not giving up and finishing the round. And I'm proud of him just for being here."
So was I, Chadd. I admire him for hanging in there and finishing strong.
I know how tough it was for Jake out there that day. I play the game and I've been in his golf shoes.
Roberts, too, has shown he can overcome adversity and not just on that day at Country Oaks when his round could have easily been derailed.
In the sectional, he was cruising along comfortably until a triple-bogey at the par-4 17th put him right on the cusp of the number needed to advance.
Roberts had to punch-out from under a tree and the ball didn't stop, coming to rest just out of bounds beyond the 17th green.
"I was probably two to three inches out of bounds," he said. "It was a tough break but I came through.
He regrouped though, despite the two-stroke penalty and his 79 proved to be good enough to advance to the regional.
Greene County should be proud of the way these two young golfers represented the county and their respective schools in the regional tournament.
"It's a great honor to be able to represent our school in this IHSAA event," coach Caldwell said. "It's something to be real proud of."
Caldwell mentioned that Roberts was just the second golfer in Eastern Greene school history to qualify for the regional.
"It's a good way to gain some experience and hopefully make it back again next year."
He expressed hope that seeing Roberts compete at the regional will excite and motivate some of his other players to elevate their games and take their place on this stage next year.
"Once you see what it's about you want your chance to play there."
And I'd like to see both Roberts and Gregory back at Country Oaks next June.
Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.
Posting a comment requires free registration:
- If you already have an account, follow this link to login
- Otherwise, follow this link to register