WEST ALEXANDRIA — The Twin Valley South golf team had a busy week last week as sophomore Nathan Osborn continues to impress.
On Monday, Aug. 22, the Panthers were edged by Newton, 179-197. South bounced back the next day with a victory against Dixie, 211-230. Wednesday’s match was a close loss against Arcanum, 189-196, and Thursday was another victory in a close contest against Bethel, 172-183.
Against Newton, Osborn led all participants shooting a 37.
Other scores included: Willie Bowman, 50; Chance Parks, 53; Cole Petersen, 57 and Noelle Bright, 73.
“Nathan had another great round, score-wise, but he wasn’t totally happy,” said coach Darcy Robinson. “There were a couple of holes where he three-putted the hole, so had he not done that, he could have possibly shot well under par. He is an amazing player, and is on the edge of even greater success. I was also pleased that our team score dropped below 200 today. We’ve been struggling to find consistency so far this season. Hopefully we’re starting to settle into the season now, and we’ll get the ball rolling in our direction.”
In the victory against Dixie, Osborn scored the lowest with a 38. Other scores were: Bowman, 49; Parks, 62; Petersen, 62 and Bright, 78. Osborn and Bowman logged in the two best individual scores of the day.
“The course was not the best of playing conditions, but our guys stayed with it and did pretty well,” Robinson said. “Golf is an interesting sport, in that, more times than not, your real opponent is the course itself, not the people with whom you’re playing.”
The Wednesday match against Arcanum was one of the closest of the season for the Panthers. Scores for South were Osborn, 38; Bowman, 50; Parks, 49; Bright, 62 and Autumn Newdigate, 65.
“We had another night where we scored under 200, but unfortunately, the other team scored better than us. Still, I’m very pleased with the direction in which we are headed. Everyone’s scores are continuing to improve nearly every time we go out to play,” Robinson said.
“Nate had another great round of golf, shooting a 38. He finished his round with an Eagle putt on hole No. 9. Chance Parks shot his best score of the season by logging a score of 49. I was really happy for him, as he has been in a bit of a slump the past week or so. Willie Bowman continues to be a solid golfer in our No. 2 spot, and Cole Petersen is doing a good job rounding out our top four golfers, getting better all the time. Noelle and Autumn have been working hard to improve their game. I have a feeling that we may be using one of their scores soon, in calculating our team score for the match. They are doing that well,” Robinson said.
South bounced back on Thursday against Bethel. Osborn had one of his best outings with a 34. Bethel gave him a challenge in Tyler Weinert (34), but the rest of the team performed their best of the season as Bowman shot a 42; Parks a 46; Petersen a 50; Bright shot 62 and Newdigate a 65.
“We had a great win tonight over Bethel. We shot our lowest team score of the season tonight. Individual scores just continue to fall, about which I’m thrilled,” Robinson said. “Nathan, Willie, Chance and Cole all shot season lows, while Noelle and Autumn tied their season’s best scores. It’s been a busy week, having four matches in four days, so I was happy to see how focused we were on day four.”
South was scheduled to host Covington on Monday, Aug. 29 and travel to Miami East on Thursday for its only matches of the week.
