David Mills and the North High School golf team are right where they
want to be after Tuesday's first round of the state golf tournament — in
the hunt.
Mills shot a 4-under 66 to tie for second individually, and the
Huskies' team score of 4-over 284 trails only Brebeuf Jesuit's 276.
Another Evansville school, Harrison, also advanced to today's final
round, a place few might have believed the Warriors would be — other
than their coach, that is.
"Without sounding overly confident, I think I did expect them to
advance," Harrison coach Bryant Mosbey said after Sean Stone's 67 led
his team to a 295 for seventh place. "Really nothing that they've done
so far this year or that they did today has surprised me."
No surprise, either then, that North came out near the top after
finishing second in the state a year ago. After a two-hour weather delay
and a sluggish start, coach Rob Adamson was satisfied with his team's
effort late, rallying to tie Hamilton Southeastern and Carmel for second
place with 18 holes to go at the Legends of Indiana Golf Course in
Franklin. Jasper, the only other local team in the field, shot a 299 to
tie for 11th but missed the cut.
Play begins at 7 a.m. CDT today with North teeing off a little after 9
a.m. CDT.
"I was really happy with our play today, particularly how we closed
out the round," Adamson said. "Most teams lost several strokes the last
three holes and my team played the last three holes one-under par, so
that was phenomenal."
Adamson credited a long birdie putt on the 16th hole from Max Bowling
for part of the strong finish, and it gave him a 69 for a ninth-place
tie. Individually, Carmel's Connor O'Neal leads the way with a 65 after
eight birdies and three bogeys. Mills, who is tied with Wesley Bowman of
Hamilton Southeastern, was consistent with four birdies and no bogeys.
Central's Tyler Merkel also had a solid round, carding an even-par 70
to move on and give himself a chance to move up today. But it was
Stone, one of Harrison's four sophomores, who sat atop the leaderboard
for a time on Tuesday before he bogeyed 18 and O'Neal finished 3-under
on the back nine.
"That was great," Mosbey said. "It was just really a total game. I
rarely saw him out of the fairway, and I rarely saw him miss a green in
regulation and he was putting the ball well. It wasn't anything
specific, but he was doing every little thing well.
"I thought they played fantastic," he added of his team. "For being
as young as they are — everybody's made a big deal about my top four all
being sophomores — they're very tournament-experienced, and I think it
showed today."
As for the Huskies, Adamson believes they showed enough to contend
for the title today despite the eight-stroke deficit. "I think we're
just fine," he said. "Anything can happen out there."
That's particularly true if his seniors — Mills, Bowling and Nolan
Ballard (73) — start firing on all cylinders. "I think either one of
them could end up winning it," he said of Mills and Ballard. "They both
hit the ball really well today."
"A few more putts could have dropped, but I was pleased with my
score," Mills added Tuesday evening. "I struck the ball well all day. If
I just keep at it tomorrow, who knows?"