TOLEDO – One stroke. That’s how far the Ross boys golf team came from achieving one of its long-term goals.
Braxton White
The Little Giants have been striving to card a round of four scores in the 40s. Wednesday, in a tri-match with Whitmer and Maumee, Ross nearly did it. The close miss was a bitter disappointment for coach Jim Scharer.
“I’m not unhappy, I’m pretty pleased, other than the fact when you set a goal you want to reach it eventually and we’re so close,” he said. “We barely missed it.”
Like many of their rounds this year, the Little Giants left several shots on the course in the final stretch.
“At this point in their golf careers, it’s just hard to finish a good round,” Scharer said. “It’s right there and you just have to make the shot, or make the putts.”
Braxton White led the way for Ross, carding his lowest score of the season, with a 47, five shots lower than his season average.
“He hit the ball pretty good,” Scharer said. “We changed his putting stance and changed a little bit of his putting style. I saw him make a couple putts down the stretch.”
Putting, however, was an issue for Ross. After yesterday’s heavy rains, the greens played extremely slow and the Little Giants were just as slow to adjust.
“It’ll never go in if you can’t hit it to the hole,” Scharer said. “We left, many, many, many, many putts short. You have to be able to have a gutsy mentality when greens are slow and we’re still kind of tentative.”
Zane Rousch followed White by a stroke, shooting 48, while Owen Smith had a 49 and Cole Druckenmiller shot 50.
Whitmer shot the low team score on the day, 170, with Maumee shooting 183 to Ross’ 194.