CP's Grubnich back in form

CROWN POINT -- It wasn't a personal record, but Nick Grubnich's 69 was a lot better than the 86 he carded on Tuesday at Chesterton's Sand Creek Country Club.

"This time, I had my head on straight," said Grubnich, a Crown Point sophomore who walked away from Lakes of the Four Seasons Golf and Country Club on Friday afternoon with low-score honors at the Boone Grove Sectional. "This time I was just taking it one shot at a time. In Chesterton, I got too far ahead of myself."

This time he was too far ahead of the rest of the field on a beautiful, sun-soaked afternoon. Combined with senior C.J. Balmes' career-best 76, the Bulldogs nearly won the team title with a season-best score of 318. Host Boone Grove edged CP by four strokes, led by Taylor Noel's 74, to finish with a 314 and the sectional team title for the third straight year.

Grubnich's sub-par score was the talk of the day, though. Through 16 holes, he was 5-under. He bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes, and also bogeyed two on the front nine after missing makeable putts. He birdied holes three, four, eight, nine, 11, 14 and 16.

"Everything was working pretty well except for my putter," he said. "My putter left a lot of shots out there. I probably missed about five putts that were 10 feet or less."

Crown Point coach Del Kutemeier couldn't have been happier, though -- with Grubnich or his team.

"Our best score was a 336 before this, and that was on a par-70," he said. "And we're at 26 strokes less than we were on Tuesday (in Chesterton)."

Speaking of which, Kutemeier was happy to see Grubnich atone for that 86 when it counted.

"You know what, he had a bad round (in Chesterton)," Kutemeier said. "But around that, he also set the course record at Palmira (Golf and Country Club) ... and his (Duneland Athletic Conference) average before the conference meet was 0.5 strokes over par. So, he's been doing what he's supposed to do."

The Wolves did what they had to do to win the team title. Noel led the way, but Tyler Nicol fired a 77 in the No. 2 slot, Drake Devereux shot an 84 at No. 3 and Rick Gayda carded a 79 at No. 4 -- which put a smile on Boone Grove coach Gary King's face.

"That's exactly what we were hoping for," King said of Gayda's score. "We needed our fourth or fifth guy to come in with a good score. I kind of thought this year was going to be pretty tight, so the outcome doesn't surprise me that it was this tight. Nick Grubnich, from Crown Point ... he's just awesome. "

Andrean finished third with a 324, led by Matt Lynch's 75. All three of the top teams advance to Friday's regional tournament at Beechwood Golf Course in LaPorte. Also advancing were the top three individuals not on teams that advanced.

Merrillville's Matt Neese (78), Hobart's Garret Bianchi (83) and Roosevelt's Aaron Mercer (84) each advanced to the regional. For Mercer, who's also a standout tennis player, it was the culmination of a four-year quest that started when he first took up golf as a freshman.

"A lot of people (from Gary) have come close, but I don't think anybody else has ever made it out (of the sectional)," Mercer said. "It means a lot to me and my coach. He's had plans for me to get out. Last year I was hoping to get out, but it rained on the back nine and I ended up shooting a 52 and really hurting."

This year, he started on the back nine and took a 45 to start the day. On the course's front nine, though -- his last nine holes of the day -- Mercer pulled out a 39 to qualify.

"It was hard to pull myself back into it, because I hit three balls out of bounds today," Mercer said. "I just tried to think about good things and things that make me laugh to forget about it."

Improves 17 strokes from Tuesday to take top honors

at Boone Grove Sectional