CENTERBURG — Landon Griffith used a birdie on the first hole as momentum and fired a 77 to medal in the first Knox Morrow Athletic Conference tournament on Thursday afternoon at Wyandot Golf Course.
“My putts were just falling today,” he said. “It started from Hole No. 1 with a birdie on a 20-foot putt and I just knew it was going to be one of those days.”
Highland’s Emerson Grassbaugh chips onto the green of the 18th hole at Wyandot Golf Course in Centerburg. Grassbaugh shot an 84 to help the Scots to a second place finish behind Centerburg in the first Knox Morrow Athletic Conference tournament on Thursday afternoon.
Fredericktown’s Ian Muka looks up after picking up his ball from the 12th hole at Wyandot Golf Course in Centerburg. Muka shot an 89 to help the Freddies to a third place finish behind Centerburg and Highland in the first Knox Morrow Athletic Conference tournament on Thursday afternoon.
“Landon is always pretty good when he’s on the greens,” Centerburg coach Nate Altizer said. “I think he just had a good combination of keeping it in play and (he) putted well today.”
Griffith was followed by Dalton Hall (82), Reed Compton (83) and Levi Houck (83) for the Trojans.
“I have a lot of guys that shoot very similar scores,” Altizer said. “As a team, we’re very consistent. I think we did well today, but I think we can do better.”
Drew Santo and Emerson Grassbaugh both shot 84, followed by Owen Mott (87) and Bryce Rinehart (90) to lead the Scots, who were seeing their first action of the season, practice or competition because of a positive COVID-19 test.
“For being our first day back without practicing, I was really, really happy with how things went,” Highland coach Brett Behnfeldt said. “(Santos and Grassbaugh) are both capable of going lower than that, but 84 is still a really good score and I was happy with those two. All five guys that played today were letter winners from last year. They’re all very capable and we’re excited to see what they do this season.”
“I didn’t post the score that I was hoping for, but it was a decent score with how fluid everything’s has been in our suspended season,” Santos said. “It was our first competitive matchup of the year, so I’m not particularly upset with the number that I put up.”
Santo was playing with the top group, which included a pair of freshmen in Grant Bentley of Northmor and Will Streby of Fredericktown. Both had already seen competitive action before Thursday’s round.
“I was with two freshmen and I felt like I was at a little bit of a disadvantage,” Santo said. “Going 11 months without being on the course playing a competitive round, it’s really hard to get back into it. Playing competitive golf is a lot different than playing casual golf or a practice round.
“I was really impressed with the two freshmen that I golfed with today. (They) put in some really good scores. The league is in good hands for the next few years.”
Bentley and Mount Gilead’s Steven Street tied for second with scores of 78.
Fredericktown’s finish was a big turnaround from last season.
“We really turned it around on the back nine (after) a couple of them struggled on the front nine,” Fredericktown coach Fred Main said. “We finished sixth last year out of eight schools. To come in and finish third at the tournament here was just great. I’m really excited about the year and the future.
Main has two reasons to be excited about the future in Streby (80) and Ian Muka (89). The duo, who are both in their first year of varsity competition, led the Freddies on Thursday.
“Will Streby really came on,” Main said. “He struggled on the front nine, but he bounced back and shot 38 on the back nine for an 80, which put him third as individual. As a freshman, that’s incredible to be in that spot.”
Aiden Bocock (95), Ryan Morton (96) and Dylan Reed (98) led the Bulldogs.
