CP’s Grubnich happy with round – except one shot

FRANKLIN — One bad shot.

That was the only blemish on Nick Grubnich’s scorecard Tuesday in his third appearance in the IHSAA boys golf state finals at The Legends of Indiana Golf Course.

That lone uh-oh moment came on the tee of the 539-yard par-5 sixth hole, on which he posted a double-bogey seven.

The result was a 1-under 71, the same score relative to par he had last year on Day 1. He actually shot 69, but the course was altered due to rain and was a par 70 instead of the usual 72.

“I snap-hooked it — it was pretty ugly,” Grubnich admitted. “I was a little upset, but I had only one hiccup, one bad shot and it cost me two strokes.”

The forgettable hole came after his first birdie of the day. He needed back-to-back birdies on No. 13 (159-yard par-3) and 14 (364-yard par-4) to keep his recent streak of under-par rounds going and improve his overall season score, now at 2-under-par.

“I played decent,” he said of Tuesday’s round in general. “I made some nice putts.”

But, as usual, his coach was content with another good effort. After all, Grubnich is the only region player who advanced to today’s second round.

“You just want to make it to the second day — that’s the goal,” Crown Point coach Del Kutemeier said.

He’ll have a huge mountain to climb to capture a title. The leader is Warsaw’s Tyler Ostrom, who closed with five straight birdies for a tournament record-tying 63.

Nice way to end career: LaPorte’s Taalor Corley couldn’t have asked for a better round to end his high school golf career.

Well, maybe a little better.

The senior shot a 2-over-74, but was 1-under after 10 holes before four bogeys on the final eight holes, including one on the 18th, ended his hopes.

“I played about as well as I could,” he said. “I missed a couple short putts on the back nine.”

He knew it was the last time he’d be donning the Slicers’ golf uniform, but he was more focused on trying to get the team to the second day.

“Yeah, it was my last round of high school, but I couldn’t look at it that way,” Corley said. “I had to play for four other guys out there. I can definitely walk away with my head held high.”

Playing quicker: Thanks to the IHSAA changing the format by having tee times starting on the first and 10th holes, as well as two morning groups of teams and individuals and another afternoon set, the pace of play was much better.

One IHSAA official lamented the five-plus-hour rounds of past years and was happy at rounds coming in at around four hours and 20 minutes.

“It was definitely a nicer pace of play,” Grubnich said.

Boone Grove’s Drake Devereux agreed: “It was a decent pace — slow on the last few holes, but that’s always how it goes.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.