BLUSTERY START

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Dreadful weather conditions churned out high scores on Saturday at Shadowood Golf Course on 2016’s opening day for the links.

Battling up to 30 mph winds at the Seymour Invitational, the team that kept their heads while minimizing errors would emerge victorious.

In its opening 18-hole tournament, Seymour combined for 380 strokes while Brownstown Central amassed 401.

The Owls’ score placed them seventh while Brownstown Central finished eighth of nine teams.

“It seems like nine out of every 10 years it’s bad weather at the invite,” Seymour assistant coach Tyler Lewis said. “I think what made it harder today was that the greens played firm and fast on top of it being cold and windy. Some of the downhill putts got away from us.”

Columbus North won the tiebreaker over Bedford North Lawrence in team scoring at 347 to finish as the tourney champion.

On a second playoff hole, BNL’s Daylen Tidd claimed top-medalist with an 81 over Jennings County’s Jake Simmons.

Senior Brady Marshall and sophomore Keaton Simpson each scored 85s to tie for fifth-place medalist.

“I think that my teammates and I can all agree that it was the worst conditions we’ve ever played in for our careers,” Marshall said. “We’re not accustomed to having to hit these types of shots. There were multiple times today where I played three to four putts, and it was that way for a lot of guys”

Lewis said that Marshall and Simpson finished strong after a rough start to the day.

“Our No. 1 and No. 2 started out poorly but settled down,” Lewis said. “It was a tough day. I think anything in the low 80s was good today.”

Seymour sophomore Tyler Bullard came in next for the Owls carding a 101, sophomore Jake Silence had a 115 and junior Noah Beaty shot 109 in the No. 5 spot.

“For us to have good team scores our one, two and three need to be in the 70s,” Marshall said. “With the loss of Ethan (Ashley) we’re kind of searching for a No. 4 and No. 5 again. For us to compete, we have to be in the 70s and have our fourth and fifth shoot respectable scores.”

Brownstown’s No. 2, sophomore Hunter Browning, shot the lowest score for the Braves with a 96 by scoring 46 on the back nine.

Senior Seth Berry totaled 97 in the No. 1 spot and Brayton Hattabaugh finished with 99 at No. 4.

Allman said that Hattabaugh, a sophomore, played well for his first varsity competition.

“(Hattabaugh) and Hunter Browning played a lot this summer,” Brownstown coach Brandon Allman said. “(Hattabaugh) has shown a lot of improvement from last year. He was one of our brighter spots today. He double bogeyed the first four holes and kept it together. He had the only birdie of the day on Hole 15. I see him continually getting better.”

At No. 3, senior Jackson Wagner had 109 while freshman Mike Boshears rounded-out the scoring with 153.

“I thought we would shoot a bit better,” Allman said. “Talking to a few other coaches, we thought that, realistically, a good score would be around 80.

“I thought some of our guys just could never focus mentally. I don’t know if it was the conditions or something else. My assistant coach Luke Warren said it was a mental day from the beginning. The guys who were mentally the toughest would score the best.”

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