FREMONT – The Little Giant golf team decided to change things up a bit Thursday.
Teeing off against a Genoa team capable of shooting low scores, the Little Giants elected to turn Thursday’s duel match into a match-play format, where golfers against an opponent head-to-head to win individual holes and the team that wins the best of five matches, takes the match.
The move to match play turned a match that Ross could have lost by a lopsided score, into a tightly-contested match, and a 3-2 win for Genoa.
“Since Genoa beat us by about 40 shots the last time we played them, I decided to play match play today,” Ross coach Jim Scharer said. “I’d rather say we got beat 3-2 than by 40 shots.”
Cole Druckenmiller, who shot a round of 50, and Mike Keegan (51) each won their matches. Zane Rusch (46), Braxton White (49) and Luke O’Brien (54) lost their head-to-head contest.
“The other matches, the kids from Genoa – the first kid shot 36 – so you don’t have much chance in that situation,” Scharer said.
Per OHSAA rules, each team is allowed to play two match-format events a season, and Scharer noted the format emphasizes to players each hole is its own challenge and, when one hole’s score is higher than you’d like, the importance of leaving it behind quickly.
“What match play is really good for in high school golf is to realize that every hole is a new match,” he said. “Every hole is a new hole and what you did on the last hole doesn’t matter, it’s done. And you can win the next hole. It’s kind of a good frame of mind for your younger kids so they understand, ‘Yeah, I took a nine on that hole, but it’s just point. He got six, I got a nine, but I can win this (next) hole.’”
The Little Giants return to the course Tuesday at Bedford Hills in Toledo against Whitmer.