KOHLER, Wisc. (WJFW)- The 2023 WIAA Boys State Golf Championship was held at Blackwolf Run Golf Course, in Kohler, Wisconsin for the second year in a row. This year two Northwood’s teams sent athletes to state.
Lakeland Union has qualified for state, for six years consecutively. However, this is their first season with this team that has no seniors. A team consisting of Matt Haggart, Jack Rubo, Gray Wagner, Davis Kock, and Jeremy Hensen. On day one of competition, Matt Haggart thrived as he finished tied tenth hitting 75. This was bittersweet for Haggart as he was tied fifth for the majority of the competition until he hit for six over on the last hole.
”I stayed patient out there and found a few putts early on”, said Haggart. “But I struggled early then found a groove but then a rough finish for me but overall a solid day.”
Coach Howard was impressed with his team after day one, especially since the majority of the guys hadn’t seen state before.
“It was tough out there today. This is our sixth year in a row, but our first time with this team so we did have some players, this was their first year out today so a lot of nerves, things like that”, said Howard. “It’s tough conditions so overall it was a great experience day one”.
Switching gears to Rhinelander. They had one qualifier for state; Sam Schoppe. Sam is a sophomore and this was his first appearance at State Championships. Schoppe did not hit well on day one, and experienced the ‘domino effect’. Once a couple shots don’t go well, the rest start to follow suit. Schoppe’s frustration was clear through the last eight holes. He shot 18 over completing day one hitting 90. Schoppe was very disappointed on his first day of play.
“Really after this I’m going to practice some more on the putting greens, that’s really what I was struggling with today”, said Schoppe. “But I want to stay consistent and I hope I can do better tomorrow.”
Coach Adam Schmidt continued to encourage Sam throughout the rest of the competition.
“Tried to keep his head clear and look at the positives, even though there’s some shots that are not going the way, just try to be as positive as possible, because there’s a lot of holes”, said Schmidt. “There’s 18 more holes tomorrow.”
Day two of the state tournament was definitely an interesting one. The competitors were dealt a rough hand as the weather conditions decreased. It was windy and the temperatures dropped drastically with the wind chill making things difficult.
Sam Schoppe started well today but struggled through the rest of the competition because of the wind. Schoppe was very disappointed in how his competition went because of the expectations he had for himself. Schoppe comes from a family of golfers, including his uncle; Kevin Schoppe who’s an experienced golfer.
“I feel like I let some people down or didn’t have any expectations met so kind of feel like I’ve failed there but it is what it is”, said Schoppe.”I hope I do better next year if I make it.”
Schoppe shot 100 and finished 101 overall.
On the other hand, Lakeland Union tied for eleventh hitting 658 as a team. Jack Rubo played well today tying for fifteenth hitting 77.
“With the wind it made it much more difficult so I mean I actually played better than I did yesterday”, said Rubo. “Outside of the greens the wind made the green firms but we kind of knew that going into it from practicing and previous experience coming here”
Coach Howard was satisfied with the team’s perseverance and improvements and is excited for next year.
“It was harder today to score, but we were able to improve our team score somehow by ten shots which was really good, our back nine today”, said Howard. “To finish four guys in the 30s just shows what we can do.”