Tippecanoe’s Eli Voisard hits out of trouble on to the 14th green at Turtle Creek Thursday to save an amazing bogey. Voisard shared medalist honors with teammate Braydon Bottles and Tippecanoe won the Greenville Invitational.
Rob Kiser|Miami Valley Today
Covington’s Cam Haines chips from the fringe on the fifth green Thursday at Turtle Creek.
Rob Kiser|Miami Valley Today
Piqua’s Evan Hensler watches his birdie putt on the 16th green Thursday at the Greenville Invitational.
Rob Kiser|Miami Valley Today
Troy’s Henry Johnston lines up a putt on the 16th green Thursday at Turtle Creek at the Greenville Invitational.
Rob Kiser|Miami Valley Today
GREENVILLE — The high school golf season got underway Thursday.
And the coaches from Tippecanoe, Troy, Covington and Piqua were happy with what they saw for the most part at the 12-team Greenville Invitational at Turtle Creek Golf Course.
Tippecanoe used consistency to lead the way, winning with a 336 total.
All four scorers for the Red Devils were under 90, led by co-medalists Braydon Bottles and Eli Voisard.
“We felt like we had a pretty good team coming in (to the tournament),” Tippecanoe coach Aaron Jackson said. “It is always good to get out there and play. We will see if it holds up (as he waited for other team scores to be posted). If we win great. We definitely wanted to be in the top three.”
Bottles and Voisard had matching scorecards of 40-42—82 for the low scores of the day.
Matt Salmon and Colin Maalouf added matching scores of 86.
Will Riehle added a 90 and Dylan Lawson had a 100.
Troy took fifth with a 359 total.
“Turtle Creek is a challenging course,” Troy coach Mark Evilsizor said. “The way I looked at it is we shot 359 last year with four guys returning. This year, we shot 359 with four new guys in the lineup. So, I am happy with that. I think it shows this group can be really solid.”
Henry Johnston led Troy with an 86 and Luke Huber added an 89.
John Kneisley carded a 91, Zane Huelsman and Brayden Schwartz both shot 93 and Bryce Massingill added a 95.
A young Covington team took sixth with a 387 total.
“I am thrilled with the way we played,” Covington coach Bill Wise said. “We had four sophomores out there. We are a really young team and this is a really tough course.”
Sophomore Cam Haines led Covington with an 88 and freshman Bryson Hite had a 95.
Hunter Ray shot a 100, Garret Fraley had a 104, Sam Grabeman carded a 105 and Connor Humphrey added a 106.
Piqua took 10th with a 409 score.
The Indians are also fielding a young team.
“I think it was good for them to get out there and experience what it was like (playing in a tournament),” Piqua coach Andy Johnson said. “It is always good to get out there (for the first time) and see where you are at and what you need to work on.”
Senior Evan Hensler led the Indians with an 85.
Richard Price had a 101, Sebastian Karabinis carded a 109 and Drew Hinkle and Hunter Steinke both came in with 114.
On Monday, Troy will host the Troy Invitational at Troy Country Club with a noon shotgun start.
“Obviously, that is one we want to play better in because it is on our course,” Evilsizor said. “We are looking forward to that.”
After all four teams got the season started Thursday in a positive way.
