South, Mowrer take county golf titles at Rea Park
May 8—Consistency ruled Monday's annual Travis Smith Vigo County championships for boys high school golf played at Rea Park.
Mother Nature provided steady, mild, late-afternoon temperatures in the upper 70s with little wind.
Terre Haute South put together balanced scores, ranging from 39 to 44, to overtake defending champion Terre Haute North for the team title with a 160.
And West Vigo junior Karson Mowrer followed a bogey on his opening hole (No. 2 for the Vikings because of a shotgun start) with eight straight pars to end up with a 37, edging North's Cole Higham for medalist honors by one stroke.
North and West Vigo placed second and third as teams with 165 and 168 respectively, marking one the closest competitions from first to third in recent memory.
Mowrer was a key reason — but not the only reason — that West Vigo was able to hang so close to the larger schools from Terre Haute this year.
"The team exceeded expectations," West Vigo first-year coach Mike Bailey admitted afterward. "I can't be more proud of my guys than I am right now."
Regarding Mowrer's 37, Bailey described it as the "round of the season" for West Vigo.
"He hit fairways," the Vikings' coach noted. "His putts were amazing. He didn't do anything wrong."
Mowrer told the Tribune-Star that one reason for his Monday success was "playing it smart" when difficult decisions needed to be made.
"If I was in the trees, I just tried to hit it out safer," he mentioned as an example. "And I was two-putting everything today."
After Mowrer said that, Bailey corrected him and emphasized Mowrer had three one-putts.
As for South's Braves, whom the late Smith played golf for until he graduated in 2006, they got 39s from Nick Winning and Josh Michael, a 40 from Nick Stewart and a 42 from Peyton Turner to total their 160.
"We've been pretty consistent all year," South coach Chris Cassell told the Tribune-Star. "but with a little higher scores [than Monday].
"So it was nice to see them shoot lower scores today."
An accomplished golfer himself, Cassell also acknowledged the opposition by saying: "What a great score by Karson Mowrer."
From the North perspective, coach Chuck Payne said the Patriots "didn't play well enough to win."
"That's obvious," he continued. "South played better than we did. ... I can't blame it on the weather either. It was perfect."
Payne credited Higham's performance for keeping the Patriots and himself in contention for team and individual championships.
"Cole played well," the veteran North coach stressed. "He's been good all season."
Not to make excuses, Payne added, but he reminded the Tribune-Star that key player Gavin Connor has not been active all season because of a knee injury. Payne is hoping for his return by sectional time, but that is not set in stone.
