GREENVILLE — The high school golf season officially got underway Thursday.

And Tippecanoe boys golf team and Covington’s Matt Dieperink started in impressive fashion at the Greenville Invitational at Turtle Creek Golf Course.

Led by Max Gustavson’s 74 and Eli Voisard’s 75, Tipp held off Vandalia-Butler for a two-stroke victory with 311.

Russia was third with 330 and Troy was fourth with 334.

Dieperink matched Gustavson’s three-over par 74 and won the scorecard tiebreaker for medalist honors.

“Of course, you always want to be medalist,” Dieperink said. “But, I got off to a rocky start.”

Starting on the 14th hole in the shotgun format, Dieperink was two-over par when he turned to the first hole. But, he played his last 13 holes in one-over par.

“It was a little rough at the start,” Dieperink said. “But, I felt like things kind of came together as I played the front nine. You always are happy to get the season started.”

Gustavson and Voisard are the two most experienced players for Tipp and it showed as the team got off to a great start.

“I have really improved a lot from last season,” Gustavson said. “I have played in a lot of tournaments this summer and I felt really good coming into this tournament.”

Voisard felt the same way and he knew Gustavson was playing well as well.

“He was in the group in front of me,” Voisard said. “So, I knew how he was playing. I have been playing in a lot of tournaments, so I felt pretty good coming into this tournament.”

Tipp’s other scores were Sam Dilworth 80, Trey Bottles 82, Carson Jackson 84 and Andrew Gagnon 87.

“We have some new guys in the lineup,” Jackson said. “So, I am extremely pleased. Max (Gustavson) and Eli (Voisard) both played well and we had some other guys that really played well.”

Troy came in as the defending champion and Trojan coach Mark Evilsizor was not happy with their 334 score.

“Blake Sager played in every varsity match for us last year and he had an appendectomy several weeks ago,” Evilsizor said. “But, every guy who played today saw varsity action at some point last year.”

Junior Mitchell Sargent carded a 77 and sophomore Van Davis had an 83.

Other Troy scores were Isaac Burns 86, Casey Beckner 87, Matthew Hempker 97 and Jeffrey Smith 97.

“Mitchell (Sargent) and Van (Davis) are both really good players,” Evilsizor said. “But, you can’t win with two scores. Our seniors are going to be a key for this team. The back nine really hurt us today. We just have to learn from this and get better.”

Covington finished eighth with a 354 total.

Other Covington scores were Brodie Manson 84, Jayden Wackler 93, Brairen Denson 103, Jackson Hollis 108 and Caleb Smith 108.

“Matt (Dieperink) is always rock solid,” Covington coach Bill Wise said. “Brodie just had a tough stretch of holes at one point in the round. This is the toughest course we will play. It is a good to get out and play on it and it is a good preview for sectionals.”

Piqua finished 11th with a 393.

Indian scores were Hunter Steinke 89, Lance Lawson 98, Evan Clark 100, Blake Walling 106, Aiden Applegate 108 and Gabe Sloan 108.

“Our experience players ahouldn’t have made the mistakes they made out there,” Piqua coach Andy Johnson said. “There wasn’t a lot good out there today. I was happy to see how Lance (Lawson) played today. He should feel good about breaking 100 in his first varsity tournament.”

Troy will play in the Urbana Invitational Monday and the Dan Kendig Invitational at Echo Hills in Wednesday.

Sports Editor Rob Kiser can be reached at [email protected]