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LaPorte Golf
Regional Par: 4 4 3 4 4 5 4
3 5 = 36 -- 5 4 4 5 5 3 4 5 3 38 = 74
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Northwest Indiana
High School Boys Golf:
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A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
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LaPorte Golf
Regional Par: 4 4 3 4 4 5 4
3 5 = 36 -- 5 4 4 5 5 3 4 5 3 38 = 74
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LaPORTE (6-12-2009) It was a very strong year in golf in Northwest Indiana and it was unlikely that anyone from Lake County would reach the state finals at last Friday's LaPorte Regional. Boone Grove Sectional champ Boone, and runners up Crown Point and Andrean, had a tall hill to climb if they were going to finish in the top three at the Beechwood Golf Course on the south side of LaPorte.
Except for one player. Crown Point's Nick Grubnich
survived a bogey on the 18th hole to card a 4-over-par 76 and reach the golf
state finals for the second consecutive season. Grubnich was to tee off on
the 18-hole Legends of Indiana Course in Franklin early Tuesday in the 36-hole
two-day state finals.
"I hit the ball terrible," said a noticeably unhappy Grubnich.
"I hit two fairways, seven greens, I was all over the place. I don't know.
My swing wasn't there today. Whenever ever I come here I can't hit the ball badly. It not the course's fault. I just don't play well here."
Oddly, it wasn't a great day for anybody. Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC)
champion Chesterton won the regional easily with a 307, but even that score was far higher than the 289 they shot on the par-70 Forest Park course in the
Valparaiso Sectional on June 5.
Chesterton, Marian and LaPorte are the three schools to advance to the finals and Grubnich joins Boone Grove's Taylor Noel (72) and three other players to advance as individuals. For the top golfers, there are only three rounds a year that matter. The regional and the two state finals days. Grubnich, who shot a 69 at the Sectional at the Lakes of the Four Seasons Course, passed his first test.
"The goal is to advance," said Grubnich. "It would have been nice to win today. I like the Indianapolis course better. It fits my eye better than this place. It's more open and it's longer."
Everybody's confidence works in a different way, but no one wants to admit out loud that Nick is a state contender, something that's obvious because of his scores. Not to mention the 67 he shot at the finals (he finished in third place with a (67-72=139) in 2008.
"I just want to get my stroke together," he said. "Go down there and take one stroke at a time. My goal last year was just to make the cut. I got hot and did pretty well."
When it's asked where he could finish, Grubnich said, "First. After you finish third, you can't back up."
Boone's Taylor Noel carded a (38-35) 73 to reach the state finals, even though
his team fell one stroke short of qualifying. But for Boone to even be close was
a job well done. The Wolves tied Penn (they placed fifth due to a better 5th player score for Penn) and they edged Michigan City. Six of the 12 teams at the regional were from the DAC.
"The DAC did great here," said Del Kutemeier. "First and third. Can't do much
better than that. Nick is the only kid from Lake County to advance, and he was
the only one last year. He seems to have a little trouble here, but he'll learn to play here.
He has to. I think he'll do better at the state finals."
REGIONAL NOTES: Crown Point had to wait almost two hours for the final golfers to finish to know whether Grubnich would qualify or not. Since they finished second at the sectional, they played the regional course with the three other second place teams. The Bulldogs then had some lunch, waited and watched while the third place sectional finishers and all the individual qualifiers ended their rounds.
"Last year, we were in the first group," recalled coach Del Kutemeier and that was a really long wait."
Crown Point's Nick Grubnich avoided a penalty on a highly unusual circumstance on the 18th hole. On a short par-3, Grubnich's tee shot missed the green altogether and hit the concrete walkway to the right of the green near the clubhouse. The ball bounced towards the building which would have been out of play, drawing a one stroke penalty and forcing him to tee off again. But the ball hit a golf bag which was sitting in a designated area near the clubhouse and did not go out of bounds. Ironically enough, it was a Crown Point golf bag belonging to one of Grubnich's teammates.
"I hit the car path on the fly," Grubnich explained later. "I chipped it over and I chipped it back to within six feet. It was a good save."
Hitting the ball out of bounds would have drawn what was termed a 'stroke and distance' penalty. You lose one stroke and you lose the distance you hit the ball. After some discussion it was ruled that Grubnich would not be penalized because the bags kept his ball in bounds.
"If it had been some other teams' bags," explained Kutemeier, "there would have been no problem. But it was our team and they could have ruled that we blocked the ball to help him. But the ruling was that since the boys were told to leave their bags there, there would be no penalty. A 'stroke and distance' penalty probably would not have changed Nick's 76. Grubnich chipped that ball (from the bag area) onto the green and two-putted for a '4' on the 18th hole. Had the CP sophomore been penalized one stroke and forced to tee off again, the he likely would have carded a par-3 as 22 of the 60 regional players did, creating the same final 18-hole score of 76.
Four players recorded a birdie-2 on the 18th hole.
Nick Grubnich - sophomore (CROWN POINT)
9-hole scores
4-20 (38) +2 (Curtis Creek)
4-22 (35) -1 (LOFS)
4-24 (36) +1 (Youche)
4-28 (37) +2 (Palmira)
5-5 (36) -2 (Michigan City Municipal)
5-6 (34) -2 (Youche)
5-12 (43) +7 (Youche)
5-13 (30) +3 (Forest Park)
5-19 (39) +2 (Youche)
5-20 (37) +1 (Youche)
5-23 (32) -2 (Robbinhurst)
5-26 (31) -4 (Palmira)
18-hole scores
4-25 (72) Crown Point Invitational - Youche (even)
5-2 (74) Kankakee Valley Invitataional - Sandy Pines (+2)
5-9 (78) Renssealer Invitataional - Curtis Creek (+6)
5-23 (72) Lake Central Invitational - Palmira (even)
5-29 (70) at Hanover Central - South Shore (even)
6-2 (86) DAC Invitational - at Sand Creek (+14)
6-5 (69) Boone Grove Sefctional - at LOFS (-3)
6-12 (76) LaPorte Regional - at Beechwood (+4)
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Revised: June 17, 2009.
