For the Westfield High School boys golf team, it was another case of coming oh, so close.
Second-ranked Guerin Catholic edged No. 1 Westfield by two strokes in the IHSAA boys golf state finals June 14 at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel. The Golden Eagles finished with a score of 589, two strokes fewer than Westfield’s total. In the 2022 state finals, Guerin edged Westfield by one stroke.
Shamrocks coach Josh Bryant said 591 is a good total for two days at Prairie View.
“It was high-level college golf all the way around, which we’ve been saying all year because of the low scores,” Bryant said.
Bryant said the credit goes to Guerin Catholic, with individual champion Leo Wessel shooting 67 on the final day and Jacob Modleski, who finished tied for second, shooting 67 in the opening round.
“When you have really good teams that are going so close, those are the differences,” Bryant said. “I’m happy with our boys. We always talk about the back nine you have to be in position, and we were. It was a fun battle.”
Westfield trailed Guerin by three shots after 14 holes but took a one-shot lead going into the final three shots.
“Golf has a way — sometimes you lose it, sometimes you get beat,” Bryant said. “Guerin won it. It’s been fun to play all year. We’ll probably feel the same in the years moving forward.”
Bryant said the team knew it didn’t have the tiebreaker this year, which is the fifth golfer’s final score. Only the top four scores are counted in the total unless there is a tie.
“We knew we had it to win,” Bryant said. “Lots of things happen on the last hole in the state final.”
“Our six golfers that played most of our season were three seniors and three underclassmen, so we’ll have three coming back with a lot of experience,” Bryant said.
