Golfers in a groove
Schultz, Johnson lead Cats to Cadott title
By Bob Burrows
Meyer was talking about his team's performance at the 22-team Whispering Pines Invitational in Cadott last Saturday where, for the third time in four years, the Wildcats came away with the overall team championship. Junior Todd Schultz paced the Cats with a career best, 1-over par round of 73 to earn medalist honors while classmate Neil Johnson finished second overall with a round of 75. Another junior, Nik Linehan, fired 81 while Justin Gilbertson carded an 83 and Alec Danielson 84. The Cats finished with a total of 312, their best team score in 4 years and three strokes better than second place Onalaska. "I hope things are starting to click," Meyer said. "We are getting some very good scores, scores we need to win the conference and get through the tournaments." Meyer said his players are making good decisions on the golf course. "We've been able to avoid the big numbers on holes, and that's crucial in our short, nine-hole matches," he noted.
That certainly was the case last Monday at Princeton Valley Golf Course, where Johnson earned medalist honors with a 2-under par 34 over 9 holes to help the Cats to a second place finish in an 8-team Big Rivers Conference match. River Falls finished with a total of 157, four strokes behind first place Eau Claire North. The Cats also remained in second place in the overall BRC standings, one point behind the Huskies with two conference matches scheduled at the River Falls Golf Club this week. In addition to Johnson's first place score of 34, Linehan turned in his best score of the year with a 38 while Danielson fired a 42, Gilbertson 43 and Schultz 44. "You've got to like our chances," Meyer said, referring to the last two BRC matches of the season at home this week. "Most players haven't been to River Falls. It's a tough course and has a lot of blind shots that make you think and hopefully guess a little bit." The Cats will wrap up the regular season with an 8-team BRC match at River Falls this Friday at 4 p.m. before traveling to the exclusive Hillcrest Golf Course in Eau Claire for the conference tournament next Friday, May 21. Meyer said his team needs to say focused to make a strong showing. "As Harvey Penick would say, we need to take dead aim. Focus on one shot at a time, stay in the present and not worry about previous holes or matches and don't worry about the matches and holes that haven't come yet," he explained. He said getting more scores in the 30s will go far. "We're close but we have work to do," he stated. "But the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary." The Wildcat JV also turned in a strong showing last week, placing fourth at the 22-team Amery Invitational on Tuesday. Charlie Manteufel finished second overall with a score of 85 while Bryan Webster shot 90, Joe Jenkins 92, Cory Svoma 97 and Bob Klecker 105.
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