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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
The Rochester girls golf team won the Rochester Invitational at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek on Aug. 31. Their team score of 317 broke a school record of 336 set earlier this season at the Kokomo Invitational. From left – Chloe Winn, Audrey Widman, Lily Chipps, Molly Moore, Ava Thomas, Laynie Migonis, Olivia Bailey, Lexi Haughs.
Olivia Bailey earned medalist honors with a 39, and Lexi Haughs tied her personal best for nine holes with a 42 as the Rochester girls golf team won a three-way home match over the front nine at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek Wednesday.
Rochester had a 170, Plymouth had a 200, and Bremen had a 201.
Molly Moore added a 44, Ava Thomas had a 45, and Laynie Migonis had a 52 for Rochester, who is ranked No. 16 and who has not lost a nine-hole dual match since falling to Warsaw on Aug. 15.
Bailey’s round included a birdie on No. 4 and five pars. She overcame a double bogey on No. 8, a hole that started with her hitting her tee shot in the water.
“She bounced back really well,” Rochester coach Chad Thomas said. “She hit a great shot in there after the drop. I know she had a couple course management things that she wasn’t happy with, some decisions she’d like to have over. But a pretty solid round for not being on top of her game.”
Haughs also had a tap-in birdie after reaching the par-5 fourth hole in two
“That was good to see,” coach Thomas said of how Haughs played the fourth hole. “I know she wasn’t happy with how she hit her irons, so we’re going to look at that tomorrow (at practice) and see if we can find some things to give her some thoughts on that and shore that up a bit for her.”
Moore had four pars on her round. Thomas had four pars, but both she and Migonis had a quadruple bogey on No. 9 with its sloped green and tough pin placement in the front left portion of the green.
Migonis was the only Rochester player who parred the notoriously difficult first hole, with its creek and narrow fairway near the woods.
Noelle Hutchings led Plymouth with a 43. Samantha Ton, who played with Bailey and Hutchings, led Bremen with a 49.
This was Rochester’s final competitive match in preparation for the Three Rivers Conference at Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru Saturday afternoon. Rochester golfers will be in foursomes in the final grouping with players from Maconaquah, Northwestern and Wabash.
Rochester is the defending TRC champion.
“Everybody, I think in general, we need to shore some things up with the short game on nights like this where it can save us some strokes,” coach Thomas said. “Where we’re maybe not hitting our irons great or the way we want or we don’t make some good decisions here or there, our short game, we’ve got to rely on that to dig us out of a hole. And for a few of them tonight, they just didn’t do that.”
Rochester breaks school record at home invite
The Rochester girls golf team smashed its school record for the second time this season when it shot a 317 at the Rochester Invitational on Aug. 31.
Rochester defeated runner-up Logansport by 17 strokes. South Bend St. Joe was third with a 360. Only four other teams in the 13-team field broke 400.
Olivia Bailey led Rochester with a 71, Ava Thomas had a 79, Molly Moore had an 81, Lexi Haughs had an 86, and Laynie Migonis had a 108.
“I knew we were playing well today,” Rochester coach Chad Thomas said. “I had a good feeling. Everybody got a really good start and kept it together. I didn;’t know how low it would be, but I figured it would be a score that would challenge our school record and be contending for a tournament win. I didn’t know how Logan or St. Joe were doing because they were two of the teams I thought would be very competitive in this. To shoot a 317 at our course, even though it is our home course, it’s hard sometimes to shoot a low score here because there are a lot of areas of trouble that can bite you, so 317 is a tremendous score out here.”
Bailey lost to Peru’s Piercey Dyer on the second hole of a sudden death playoff for medalist honors. There were only seven players that broke 80, and Bailey and Thomas were two of them.
“I’m really happy with it,” Bailey said of her round. “I played really well. … Course knowledge helped me a lot because I knew the best spots to hit it. I was hitting my driver really well, and I was chipping really well.”
Rochester’s previous school record was a 336, which the team shot at the Kokomo Invitational at Kokomo Country Club on Aug. 10. Prior to this year, Rochester’s school record was a 338.
Coach Thomas had stressed mental approach when he talked to the team before the tournament.
“I was really pleased on the girls’ mental focus and staying positive and not letting a bad shot ruin their entire day,” coach Thomas said. “That was kind of my spiel to them this morning: Keep positive, one shot at a time, you’ve got to have a short memory. And I know that’s hard to do and difficult for players to do, but if you can do that, your round’s going to be better off in the end, and we did that today.”
Bailey raved about her teammates.
“I’m super proud of our team,” Bailey said. “That’s just amazing. I did not think that would be possible. I’m really proud of our team. We all played well on the same day, and it all came together.”
The other area team at the tournament was Tippecanoe Valley, who shot a 420 and finished 10th. Savana Miller shot a 76, Maddie Thompson had a 101, Maris Overbey had a 119, Lucy Hayden had a 124, and Brystan Sands had a 126.
Coach Leslie Brouyette noted after the round that all five players shot personal bests for 18 holes.
ROCHESTER INVITATIONAL
at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek Aug. 31 (par 72)
Rochester 317, Logansport 334, South Bend St. Joe 360, Culver Academy 372, Maconaquah 377, Northwestern 399, Western 414, Elkhart 416, Mishawaka Marian 419, Tippecanoe Valley 420, Peru 429, Kokomo 448, John Glenn 465
ROCHESTER (317): Olivia Bailey 71, Ava Thomas 79, Molly Moore 81, Lexi Haughs 86, (Laynie Migonis 108)
TIPPECANOE VALLEY (420): Savana Miller 76, Maddie Thompson 101, Maris Overbey 119, Lucy Hayden 124, (Brystal Sands 126)
OTHER ROCHESTER PLAYERS: Chloe Winn 115, Lily Chipps 124, Audrey Widman 130
OTHER VALLEY PLAYERS: Jenna Prater 125
Rochester beats TRC foes Northfield, Peru
PERU — Ava Thomas had two birdies in a three-hole span over the front nine at Rock Hollow Golf Club as part of a 38 as the Rochester girls golf team won a three-way match against TRC foes Northfield and Peru on Aug. 29.
Rochester shot a 167, Northfield had a 212, and Peru had a 216.
In addition to Thomas’ score, Olivia Bailey had a 39, Lexi Haughs had a personal-best 42 for nine holes, Molly Moore had a 48, and Lily Chipps had a 63.
Regular No. 5 player Laynie Migonis had an excused absence due to a personal matter.
Peru’s Piercey Dyer was the medalist with a 36. Her round included three birdies, a bogey and a double bogey.
Thomas bogeyed No. 5 but had birdies on Nos. 6 and 8 before triple bogeying No. 9. Bailey’s round included seven birdies, a bogey and a double bogey.
“She played really, really well,” Rochester coach Chad Thomas said of Ava. “She just had one hole where she had a couple bad swings, and it cost her there, but she played really solid all day today.”
Haughs’ round included four pars.
“Irons, she struck really well,” coach Thomas said. “Even when she did hit it in a bad spot, she made good choices chipping out and getting back in play. Just a solid overall night for her.”
This round helped serve as preparation for the Three Rivers Conference tournament, which Rock Hollow will host on Sept. 14. Rochester won the TRC last year when it was held at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek.
at Rock Hollow Golf Club, Peru, Aug. 29 (front nine, par 36)
ROCHESTER (167): Ava Thomas 38, Olivia Bailey 39, Lexi Haughs 42, Molly Moore 48, (Lily Chipps 63)
NORTHFIELD (212): Dale 48, Sorg 48, Dawes 57, Otey 59, (Wilson 60)
PERU (216): Dyer 36 (medalist), Nero 59, Beattie 59, Caldwell 62, (Dunnaway 68)
ROCHESTER JV: Chloe Winn 63, Audrey Widman 63
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