Jacket golfers compete in their final SIRR Golf Conference
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The six-man Jacket Golf squad travelled to Stone Creek Golf Course to play in their final SIRR Conference Golf match in Makanda, IL. It was an entirely windy, but sunny day for the boys, who would tee off from the back nine, #10 between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. In the Mississippi Division, the Nashville Hornets took the conference championship with a team score of 335 while the Benton Rangers won the Ohio Division conference championship with a team score of 314.
Senior Brett Barthol was off in the second group, 9:10 tee time, with Ross Ryterski of Nashville, Jordan Thompson of Sparta, and Adam Valentine of Pinckneyville. Of the foursome, Barthol finished second, falling short of Ryterski's 18-hole 86 by only one stroke with an 87. Ryterski's score earned him the sixth place individual all-conference medal, leaving Barthol and Justin Jenkel of Pinckneyville tied at seventh place. Brett started off his round going out of bounds on hole #10 and scoring a 9 on the par 4, noting, "I couldn't figure out my driver all day." Barthol made only one par on the back nine but came back on the front to make one birdie and five pars. "Conditions improved on the front and got a little warmer," Barthol commented, "so I was more comfortable with my swing."
Brett managed the second lowest front-nine score with a 39 (only to be surpassed by Kaleb Kessler of Sparta), compared to his back-nine score of 48. "I was chipping and putting really good...my short game was really good actually."
Freshman Jonavan Richelman started off his day at the 9:50 tee time with Kyle Mueller of Nashville, Ben Hirsch of DuQuoin, and Justin Meyerhoff of Sparta. Richelman also started off the back nine with a number of frustrating holes, making the turn with a score of 54, but improved by eight strokes after finishing the front nine. Jonavan made par on hole #17, but earned two more pars on the front. On the 317 yard par 4, #6, Richelman hit his drive about 70 yards from the green, made the green in two, then two-putted. "Trying to stay under 100 was my goal," Richelman said, "so I stayed focused and tried to forget the bad shots from before." Richelman placed 11th among all Mississippi Division players with a total score of 100.
Senior Sam Higgerson brought in the third team score for the Jackets with a 111, totaling 53 on the back nine then 58 on the front nine. After taking two seasons off for academic reasons, Higgerson reflected, "it feels like I was away for too long." He has spent his season "going back to the basics" and recognizes, "scores improved the last few rounds and I found things in my swing I never noticed before that I can work on." Higgerson's 111 included only one par on hole #15's par 5. Sam was on the green in reg. and two putted after putting it close on the par 3, #14 as well.
Senior Tommy Pfeiffer played a fair round of 137, shooting 70 on the back nine and a 67 on the front, and dropping 20 strokes from the 2008 SIRR Conference Tournament at Stone Creek last year. Considering the difficulty of the course and weather conditions, it was clear that players that did not consistently keep the ball in the fairway would be punished. In fact, many of the added strokes of Pfeiffer, Wright, and Gonzalez were caused by balls lost in the high grass along most of the course.
Junior Steven Wright managed a 157 for 18 holes of play, bringing in an 82 off the back nine and returning with a 75 from the front. Clearly Wright showed improvement in later holes and was making excellent contact with his 7 Wood. Putting will be Steven's main focus of improvement for next season.
Freshman Robert Gonzalez carded an 18-hole score of 161, starting his round with a back-nine score of 78 and concluding the round with an 83 on the front nine. Wright and Gonzalez were both in the final group for the Mississippi Division and were showing signs of fatigue in the final holes. Playing in an 18-hole tournament, and walking the entire course especially, is not something to be taken lightly. Both boys did very well for their first conference tournament and hopefully will show much improvement and success in next year's Black Diamond Conference.
Team Scores
Mississippi Division: Sparta 363, Pinckneyville 368, DuQuoin 405, Anna-Jonesboro 402, and Chester 435
Ohio Division: Massac County 320, Murphysboro 343, West Frankfort 360, Harrisburg 377, and Herrin 404
Individual Medalists
Mississippi Division: 1st-Braeden Holzhauer 79(Nashville), 2nd-Kaleb Kessler 80(Sparta), 3rd-Jordan Thompson 82(Sparta), T4th-John Goodrich 85(Nashville), T4th-Kyle Mueller 85(Nashville), 6th-Ross Ryterski 86(Nashville) Ohio Division: 1st-Dalton Korte 76(Massac Co), T2nd-Andrew Mitchell 77(Benton), T2nd-Josh Harp 77(Benton), T4th-Zach Tate 79(Benton), T4th-Shawn Jackanicz 79(West Frankfort), 6th-Quincy Glass 80(Massac Co)