Ashland, Lex advance as teams; Maglott, Cawrse as individuals in Division I sectional golf
ARLINGTON ― There were plenty of memorable shots for Ashland senior Kamden Mowry during the Division I boys golf sectional tournament on Tuesday at Sycamore Springs Golf Course.
But one will stick with him for a long time. It was a shot he will use as motivation next week at the district tournament as the Arrows, along with Ohio Cardinal Conference rival Lexington, lived to fight another week.
Staring down a 5-foot putt on No. 9, his final hole of the day after starting his round on the back nine, Mowry knew he had to hit it firm and right at the center to jam home a par and get out of there with a 73. He struck it perfectly and it looked like a sure par save, but the ball caught a centimeter too much of the left edge and did a complete 360 around the cup before coming back toward him for a horseshoe lip out.
Staring down a 5-foot putt on No. 9, his final hole of the day after starting his round on the back nine, Mowry knew he had to hit it firm and right at the center to jam home a par and get out of there with a 73. He struck it perfectly and it looked like a sure par save, but the ball caught a centimeter too much of the left edge and did a complete 360 around the cup before coming back toward him for a horseshoe lip out.
Mowry calmly tapped in his bogey to finish with a 74, tied for the lowest round of the tournament with Elida's Carson Harmon as the two shared co-medalist honors. Mowry probably had every right to take a swipe at the ball and send it flying off the green in disgust, but cooler heads prevailed — much like they did the entire round for the Arrows standout.
"I started off well, hitting fairways and keeping it in play," Mowry said. "I didn't hit as many greens as I would have liked, but I got up and down when I needed to and I had it together. I kept my emotions and grinded out a good round."
The district tournament will be played Oct. 12 at Shawnee Country Club in Lima.
Mowry started his day with an even-par 36 on the back 9 before carding a 38 on the front to finish 2 over for the tournament. After missing out on medalist honors two weeks ago at the Ohio Cardinal Conference tournament, Mowry responded in a big way by leading the Arrows to a 339 team score to place second behind tournament champion Findlay (321) and just ahead of OCC champion and third-place Lexington (346).
"This last month, I haven't been playing my best so this has been a nice bounce-back tournament," Mowry said. "It feels great to regain my confidence, but I will work on hitting more greens and taking advantage of the par 3s. I am sitting pretty good right now and it is all about sharpening things up over the next week."
At the OCC tournament, Lexington ended Ashland's reign as the league champion. On Tuesday, it was the Arrows finishing ahead. Wyatt Mohrman carded a 41-43-84 while Keslar Bates shot a 42-44-86 and Ryan Eberling had a 46-49-95 to round out the scoring players. Reed Emmons had the drop score with a 55-58-113.
The second-place finish gives the Arrows some confidence heading into next week's district tournament, where only one team and one individual will advance to state.
"It felt great for us," Mowry said. "That is a small win, but in the bigger picture we all wanted to advance out together, and that is what we were able to do. Now we get to move on to the district tournament — and we all know who is the favorite to make it out as a team — so we will go out and play our best, have fun, and I think our top two or three guys have a chance to challenge for that one individual spot and we will just try to do our best at practice this week and see how it goes."
Lexington moves on despite tough day
If Mowry will be left thinking about his 360 lip-out on the final hole of the day, the Minutemen will be thinking about all of the pars and birdies they left on the course. Their combined score wasn't quite up to their expectations, but still qualified them for the district tournament. Elida (364) and Tiffin Columbian (366) also punched their tickets to next week.
Senior Troy Chapman was the low man for Lex with a 44-40-84.
"Tournament times comes around and we hope to play well, but it is our first time here this year and this course is never easy," Chapman said. "It is short and the greens are tough. We didn't play well here last year either, but we were able to get out, and we did it again this year."
Trevin Smith was the second scorer for Lex with a 44-41-85 while freshman Griffin Hughes added a 44-43-87 and senior Isaac Vance had a 43-47-90 as the scoring rounds. Junior Jack Wyant carded a 52-52-104 as the drop score.
Still, Lex lived to play another week and the Minutemen will get back in the lab to correct a few things before next week's district tournament.
"We really have to work on ball striking," Chapman said. "Today, there wasn't a lot of wind so we just didn't strike it as well as we usually do. We can always be a lot better around the greens so we don't leave tough putts for ourselves."
Chapman knows the district tournament is an uphill battle, but he also knows it is possible to advance out as an individual after being the lone state qualifier from Richland County last year when he shot a 38-37-75 at Shawnee Country Club, where this year's district tournament will be held. This year, one team and one individual with the lowest score that is not on the qualifying team will move on to state.
"I think if we play well, we will always give ourselves a shot," Chapman said. "Anthony Wayne is the No. 3 team in the state and won at Firestone last week. Us three seniors are going in with a lot to prove. We all want to play well, but the goal is to get to state, and I would love to get back there and redeem myself from last year.
"We will go in with a positive mindset and believe we have nothing to lose so we will be in attack mode."
Maglott, Cawrse qualify individually
Madison freshman Nicholas Maglott got his high school tournament career started off on the right foot Tuesday when he qualified as an individual for the district tournament with a 44-42-86 — the 11th best score of the entire field — to nab the second individual qualifying spot.
He waited anxiously as the scores came rolling in and was thrilled to move on and represent the Rams at the district tournament.
"It feels awesome," Maglott said. "I didn't know I was going to do that today. I putted well and made some long ones and my approach shots were nice, which helped the short game. I didn't get off the tee as well as I would have liked but, overall, it was a good day."
Maglott rebounded well from a slow start and knew his short game saved him. So, with a week to prepare for the Division I district tournament, he will get back to work on the tee box.
"It didn't start off well and I was over bogey through the first nine," Maglott said. "So next week I just want to beat my score from today and see what happens. I will work on getting off the tee better so it gives me easier approach shots."
Mansfield Senior junior Andrew Cawrse grabbed the final qualifying spot with a 43-47-90 to finish with the 17th-best score of the tournament.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ashland, Lexington advance in high school golf sectional tournament
