The Bellmont linksmen travelled to Timber Ridge golf course in Bluffton to take on the host Tigers and the Jay County Patriots in a nine-hole tri-match. The Braves prevailed shooting 162 on the par 36 back nine. Bluffton was five strokes back with a 167 total. Jay County shot 191 for the round.
Winston Brown continued his excellent play as of late as he tallied two birdies on his way to a one-under 35 to lead Bellmont. Bluffton’s number one golfer, Keegan Schwartz kept up with Brown through four holes, but a double bogie on the fourteenth hole which Brown birdied provided the difference as Schwartz finished with a solid 38.
Winston Brown shot a -1 at Timber Ridge for medalist honors Thursday.
Bellmont’s number two man, Owen Minnick, also kept pace with the leaders until consecutive bogeys on the last three holes dropped him back. He still finished with a very respectable 39.
Rounding out the scoring for the Braves was Gage Bressler with a 43 and Bryce Rickord with a 45. Each improved by a few shots over their round from Tuesday night as the team continues to make progress mid-season. Jayden Haines shot 48, a round which included a birdie, but three doubles and a triple-bogey were his downfall. Freshman Ben Binegar struggled in his first varsity round with a 54 as the teams counted four out of six for their score.
Backing up Schwartz for Bluffton was Declan Grieser with a 42, Ephraim Frauhiger with a 43, Connor Klopfenstein 44, and Cade Abbott 45 in a very consistent scoring effort for the Tigers. Their team score could have challenged Bellmont except for an eight (snowman!) on each of the cards from Grieser, Frauhiger, and Klopfenstein, meaning each had eight solid holes in the round. The sixth man for Bluffton was Anthony Hartman who carded a 57.
Jay County was led by a pair of 46s from Caleb Derome and Gage Sims. Isaac Homan, playing in the number six slot contributed a 48 for the Patriots and Liam Garringer rounded out the team total with a 51. Luke Fugiett – 52 and Cody DeHoff – 53 were right behind Garringer with their rounds.
Bellmont moves to 6 – 3 on the season in duals with the two wins. Bellmont and Bluffton will meet up again on Saturday at the Adams-Wells Bi-County tournament, held at Wabash Valley G.C. in Geneva. Schwartz recently won the South Adams Invitational on the same course with a sizzling 66. He and Brown will play together in what should be a great individual showdown between two of the better players in the area. Play begins at 9:00 am.
