By RYAN WALKER
YORKTOWN — The boys’ golf season came to a close for both Bluffton’s Keegan Schwartz and Norwell’s team in the regional meet at The Players Club at Woodland Trails.
Schwartz missed out on a spot in the state finals, shooting a 36 for even par on the front nine and a plus-three on the back nine.
Schwartz ended the 18 holes with a 75, along with five other golfers.
With only two spots available to advance, the six entered into a playoff. Bishop Chatard’s Will Pruitt and Eastbrook’s Aaron Fulda ended up as the winners and will head to Carmel next week.
Even with the disappointing finish to the day, 18th-year head coach Steve Abbett had the world to say about his player as the best he’s ever coached.
“I had the pleasure of coaching him for three years due to COVID-19 shutting down his freshman year,” Abbett said after the meet. “In those three years, he was always my No. 1 player, and will go down as the best player I have ever coached. His career was amazing, and it was extremely tough to watch him fall just short of achieving his goal and going to State. I am very proud of Keegan and everything he has done for Bluffton golf and how much he has progressed as a person and player. He will be deeply missed.”
Norwell’s team finished the day with a team score of 365, in 14th place to officially end the season at the regional.
The team placed third in the sectional last week at Timber Ridge Golf Course, edging out Bluffton for the final slot to play at the regional.
Norwell head coach Daniel Schmidt said the team wanted to compete at the highest level they could Thursday. After a few rough hole, the team loosened up and just enjoyed playing the course.
“Everyone was hopeful that we could manage to put together some good rounds and get a chance to move on, but after some of the guys started out in a less-than-ideal fashion, they seemed to loosen up and just enjoy playing golf,” Schmidt said.
The team was able to practice and play the course on Wednesday, which eased some of the nerves and helped the Knights have fun with the experience.
The team finished with a 5-6 match record, 37-23 including invitationals in Schmidt’s first season as head coach. He reflected on what his team accomplished while golfing one of their best outings in the sectional to make it this far and wants to continue building what the Knights did this season into the next.
“I greatly enjoyed this experience. I certainly learned a lot, and I hope many of my players can say the same thing,” he said. “It has been an immense pleasure to have the opportunity to get involved in this program and to help shape golfers. Looking back at our season, I, of course, would have liked to have won a few more matches that were close, but we now know some things that we can work on for next season to hopefully flip some of those close ones.”
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Norwell’s individual results
Ethan Ottinger (88), Derek Smith (89), Cooper Sloan (91), Chase Hulvey (97), Ashton Federspiel (101).
Final team results
Hamilton Southeastern first (289), Tipton second (303), Noblesville third (306), Yorktown fourth (314), Heritage Christian fifth (317), Cathedral sixth (318), Bishop Chatard seventh (322), Eastbrook ninth (332), Bellmont 10th (343), Greenfield-Central 11th (344), New Palestine 12th (345), Delta 13th (358), Norwell 14th (365), and Winchester 15th (369).
