Lingen, Viergutz come up short in bids for state golf
Medford seniors Connor Lingen and Riley Viergutz continued their late-season surges by placing in the top 10 at Tuesday’s WIAA Division 1 Hudson sectional, but it wasn’t quite enough to earn 36 more holes at state.
No matter the division, sectional competition is always tight at the top and Tuesday’s meet was no exception. With his round of 79 on the par-71 course at Troy Burne Golf Club, Lingen was seventh individually, while Viergutz’s 80 put him in a tie for eighth place with Eau Claire Memorial’s Tyler DeBruyckere.
Placement among the top three players from teams that don’t qualify for state is needed to advance to state individually. Lingen was fourth among such individuals, two strokes away, and Viergutz tied for fifth, three strokes away.
Eau Claire Memorial and Hudson were the top two teams with scores of 311 and 320 and they qualified for state ahead of River Falls (335) and Wausau East (336). They also had the top two golfers as Hudson’s Sam Swavely shot a 1-under-par 70 on his home course and Memorial’s Will Schlitz was two strokes behind with a 72.
Connor O’Malley, a junior from River Falls, was third overall with a 75 and got the first individual state berth. After Eau Claire Memorial’s Adam Diller carded a 76, Wausau East’s Ted Schlindwein and New Richmond’s Cole Langeness tied for fifth overall with 77s and claimed the last two individual state berths.
Viergutz was in the first group of four to tee off at 9 a.m. and got off to a good start. He parred the first seven holes, including two par-5s. A bogey and another par put him at 1-over-par 37 through nine.
Lingen was in the second group that teed off 10 minutes later. He parred the opening par-5, then got knocked back a bit by a double bogey on the par-4 second hole. He got one back with a birdie on the par-4 fourth. Bogeys on the seventh and eighth holes had him with a 3-over-par 39 at the turn.
Lingen notched his second birdie of the day, this one on the par-3, 150-yard 11th hole, but then a double bogey and a bogey put him five over. He finished with two pars and three more bogeys to end up 8-over par.
Viergutz started his back nine with another par, but three bogeys and a double bogey on the par-3 13th over the next four holes put him just enough off the pace when all the results came in. Viergutz did par three of his last four holes, including the 589-yard, par-5 16th and got a double bogey on the 17th to finish off his 9-overpar round.
New Richmond (339), Marshfield (346), Wausau West (347) and Merrill (348) rounded out the team standings.
The state tournament is set for Monday and Tuesday on the Meadows Course at Kohler’s Blackwolf Run.
Lingen and Viergutz ended four-year varsity careers and good senior seasons. Lingen finished second in the Great Northern Conference’s individual standings, earned first-team All-GNC honors for the second straight year, won three meets this year and finished second in two more and third in three others.
Viergutz earned second-team All-GNC honors for the second straight spring, won the Medford Invitational’s individual title, was second in the final GNC meet of the spring and tied for fourth in the regional meet at Marshfield.
