Dogs pull off surprise at Brassie

Updated: May 23, 2011 10:34PM

CHESTERTON — Stunning might be an overstatement. Call it a surprising upset. Very surprising.

The number counters did a double take Monday at the Brassie Golf Club when Crown Point posted a 318 in the Duneland Athletic Conference Championship. That was two strokes better than Valparaiso and 16 better than LaPorte — both of which started the meet as co-favorites. Throw in the 325 that Portage shot, good enough for third place and it was a strange day indeed.

Strange, but very exciting for the Bulldogs.

It was the first time in 12 years that Del Kutemeier, the Crown Point coach, has had a team take home that trophy.

Kutemeier was understandably excited.

“I’m happy,” he said. “There are some great teams here like Valpo and LaPorte. I thought maybe we might have a chance. It is very humbling.”

The Bulldogs did it with a potent but unlikely 1-2 punch. Nick Grubnich played his normal game, which is very good and typically better than the field.

He shot a 1-under-71 on the wind-swept course, good enough for medalist honors by four strokes over Joel Collins of LaPorte.

The real stunner, though, was the round of 77 by Pat Mudd. Just a sophomore, Mudd played No. 5 for the Bulldogs. His was the last score posted. Before he arrived, Crown Point was sitting at 328. Not many people, aside from Mudd and his teammates, figured he had a chance to put up that number.

Even Kutemeier was pinching himself after he saw that score.

Mudd has played half the year on the junior varsity and the other half of the season on the varsity squad.

He is full-time varsity talent when he can concentrate on the sport full time. He splits time between golf and orchestra during the season, meaning that he misses some meets and practices due to concerts and rehearsals. On Saturday, Mudd had played in the DAC junior varsity tournament at Beechwood.

Kutemeier crunched some numbers late Saturday night after his team played at Palmira Golf Course in the Lake Central Invitational and Mudd had the fifth best average on the team.

That meant he got the final spot.

Kutemeier was also playing a bit of hunch, too. Mudd loves to play The Brassie with his dad. It’s one of his favorite courses.

He proved that on the final eight holes, grinding out a 39 on the back nine after starting with a triple-bogey seven on No. 10. That meant he went even par on the last eight holes in gale-force winds. Crown Point needed almost everyone of those strokes.

He was pleased with the score but not overly pleased.

“I always expect to shoot that way,” he said. “Still, I’m very excited that and happy that we won.”

For Grubnich, getting first place was a nice regular season cap to a stellar career. He had won every invitational he had played with the exception of the state finals and the DAC meet.

He can cross the DAC meet off his to-do list. He finished with four birdies and three bogies. He played solid all day, keeping the ball low while controlling his misses. It was just a solid round.

“It’s always nice to win,” he said.

The Vikings, with a second place finish, will wrap up the overall conference title if they win their final match today. LaPorte will likely finish in second place overall with the Bulldogs taking third.

Crown Point 318, Portage 325, LaPorte 334, Chesterton 339, Lake Central 344, Michigan City 351, Merrillville 383

Chesterton ˆ Mike Marshall 76, Adam Vanderzanden 77, Brandon Martin 93, Austin Johnson 93

Crown Point ˆ Nick Grubnich 71, Pat Mudd 77, Austin Qualizza 83, Luke Lambert 87

Lake Central ˆ TC Cameron 78, Matt Tellas 85, Mike Barenie 88, Jonathan Gross 93

LaPorte ˆ Joel Collins 75, Jordan Lenard 86, Taalor Corley 86

Merrillville ˆ Malik Muhammad 89, Naim Muhammad 95, Arlen Sims 96, Michael Gillis 103

Michigan City ˆ Ryan Brinckman 82, Zach Palm 87, Devin Gambill 90, Caleb Havlin 92

Portage ˆ Jack Lewis 80, Nick Lewis 81, Nate Smock 82, Paul Shane 82

Valparaiso ˆ Kyle Meihofer 78, Bobby Jacobs 79, Logan Bertalan 79, Andrew Gariup 84

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