Tyler Young
GREENFIELD — Greenfield-Central senior Tyler Young shot the best round of his career, a four-under par 68, to win the Greenfield-Central Boys Golf Sectional individual title at Hawk’s Tail of Greenfield Golf Course Monday.
His team really needed it, too.
Along with beating his closest competitor by five strokes — Mt. Vernon freshman Elijah Lemmon, who was the Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference individual champion —Young helped secure the Cougars’ third-place finish, the final team advancement spot to Thursday’s Muncie Central Regional at The Players Club Golf Course.
Mt. Vernon won the team title with a 316. It was the Marauders first title since 2021. New Palestine was second with a 326. Greenfield-Central shot 333, just three strokes better than fourth-place Eastern Hancock’s 336.
“We definitely struggled as a team. I am glad I was able to pull through with one of my PRs to elevate us to the regional round on Thursday,” Young said. “It meant a lot to me knowing that they can rely on me in the big moments to come up clutch. You have to give credit to (my brother) Avery (Young), too. He shot a 78 and that was his lowest 18-hole round this year. He had done the same thing last year in the sectional when he shot a 76.
“It was both of us getting the job done and we were able to move on as a team versus as just moving on individually.”
The Royals did get one of the three individual qualifying spots, earned by players not on the top three teams. Parker Atkins shot an 80. Also advancing were Shenandoah’s Cohen Shores (78) and Tri’s Gracen Huffman (80).
Atkins is just the sixth Eastern Hancock golfer to make it to the regional and first since Nate Hungate in 2009. The 336 was the best score in school history in the sectional tournament.
The Royals had all four of their scoring golfers in the 80s. Along with Atkins, Zach Stephens shot an 83, Jacob Jackson carded an 84 and Corey Leece finished with an 89.
The Young brothers were the only two G-C golfers to shoot lower than 91. The final two G-C scores came from Andrew Munden (91) and Corbin Elliott (96).
Third overall in the individual competition, following Tyler Young and Lemmon, was New Palestine’s Josiah Kissel with a four-over-par 76.
It was a good day for the Marauders, who had won an 18-hole tournament (The Triton Central Invitational) on the course last week.
Along with Lemmon’s runner-up finish with a 1-over-par 73, Brady Pearson carded a 78. Nils Erkmanis finished with an 82 and Asher Cotton shot an 83.
For the Dragons, it was Kissel’s day to be at the top of their leaderboard. New Palestine had Joey McPike, the individual runner-up at the county tournament, and Nick Barada, the team’s lone All-Hoosier Heritage Conference golfer, top the leaderboard in two of the season’s biggest tournaments. Luke Cofer has also been the team leader in multiple events.
Kissel was the No. 5 golfer in New Palestine’s lineup Monday. McPike shot an 81 and Cofer and Barada shot 84 and 85, respectively.
It was the second straight year all three advancing teams were from Hancock County. Last year, Greenfield-Central won its first boys golf sectional since 1997. Mt. Vernon was second and New Palestine placed third.
But as well as the county did as a whole, no one had the day like Tyler Young.
After bogeying the opening hole, he birdied No. 2 and then went on a stretch with consecutive birdies on holes No. 5 through No. 8.
“I’m going in on No. 10 and I have the lowest score on the whole front 9 against the field,” Tyler Young said. “You feel a little pressure because you don’t know how everyone else is doing and you want to keep playing the way you are.
“I thought I needed to stay in the moment a little bit. I was trying to make more pars versus getting really aggressive and putting myself in a bad scenario … I stayed in the fairways, stayed on the greens and as I was able to make a lot of big putts. That’s exactly how I shot a 68 and it felt incredible.”
Tyler said his putting game was the big key. He shot a two-under-par 34 on both nines.
“I putted extraordinarily well” he said. “All I was focused on was dialing in on the speeds of the green. I heard they were going to be rolling super fast because it was such a big event. I wanted to make sure I was prepared for what was coming. That was the difference maker.”
He added that he feels the big sectional round will be a confident booster and motivator going into Thursday’s tournament.
Again, the top three teams and three individuals not associated with the team will earn spots in the IHSAA Boys Golf State Finals at Carmel’s Prairie View Golf Course to be played June 11-12.
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2024 Greenfield-Central Boys Golf Sectional
Hawk’s Tail of Greenfield Golf Course
Team scores (top three advance to Muncie Regional): Mt. Vernon 316, New Palestine 326, Greenfield-Central 333, Eastern Hancock 336, New Castle 347, Tri 351, Shenandoah 353, Triton Central 375, Knightstown 386, Blue River Valley 431.
Top 3 individuals: Tyler Young, Greenfield-Central, 68; Elijah Lemmon, Mt. Vernon, 73; Josiah Kissel, New Palestine, 76.
Regional qualifiers not with top three teams: Cohen Shores, Shenandoah, 78; Gracen Huffman, Tri, 80; Parker Atkins, Eastern Hancock, 80.
