MEDFORD GOLF - Hintz leads Raider golfers with strong two rounds at the Dells

MEDFORD GOLF

The Medford Raiders sent golfers to Wisconsin Dells and Marshfield over two days to get their first scores of the new season.

On Tuesday, the varsity and top JV golfers completed two days of competition at Randolph/Cambria-Friesland Invite at The Dells with the varsity taking seventh out of 13 teams in round two of the tournament. Tuesday’s play was held at Christmas Mountain Village Golf Course.

The Raiders posted a team score of 343, improving by 11 strokes and one spot over Monday. They finished with a two-day total of 697, good for seventh place out of the 12 teams that golfed in the event both days.

Medford senior Zach Hintz broke 80 for the second straight day, shooting an 8over-par 79, which put him in a three-way tie for fourth place with Sean Clark of Monona Grove and James Siegert of La Crosse Aquinas. That trio was one shot behind third-place golfer Langdon Bett of Monona Grove. Altoona’s Elliot Skinner was the day’s top scorer, shooting a 1under-par 70. Russell Harder of Wausau West shot an even-par 71.

Hintz started with a bogey on hole 18 and had two double bogeys early on the front nine. But he was steady after that with six pars and birdies on the par-5, 432-yard sixth hole and the 347-yard, par-4 15th.

Senior Grant Neubauer was Medford’s numbertwo scorer, shooting an 86 to tie for 27th out of 65 golfers. He shot 43s on both the front and back nine with 15 of his holes being pars or bogeys. Cooper Klingbeil and Alex Wanke were part of a three-way tie for 33rd place with Rhinelander’s Brody Kowieski with 89s. Wanke improved by 13 shots over Monday and birdied the par-5 16th in his round. Sophomore Fletcher Frombach was 59th with a 104 that included an eagle on that par-5 hole 16.

Monona Grove had the top team score of the day at 321, two shots better than Wausau West and eight strokes better than Slinger. Rhinelander was fourth at 334, followed by Merrill (336), La Crosse Aquinas (337) and Medford. The Raiders were five shots ahead of Stoughton, who only played Tuesday. Altoona (352) and Markesan (367) rounded out the top 10.

Slinger had the top two-day total at 644, followed by Monona Grove (655), Wausau West (656), Merrill (660), Aquinas (669) and Rhinelander (676). Altoona was eighth at 704.

In Tuesday’s JV meet, Medford placed seventh out of eight teams with a score of 409. Fischer Thums led the Raiders with a 90, while Jason Woller shot a 94 and Grady Crass had a 111.

Medford is next scheduled to compete in Mosinee’s two-day event to be held at Wild Rock Golf Club in the Dells April 2223. The Medford Invitational is set for April 24 at noon at Black River Golf Course.

8th in opener

On Monday, Medford placed eighth out of 13 teams in day one of the Randolph/ Cambria-Friesland Invitational. Play was held at Trappers Turn.

Hintz got his senior season off to a strong start, landing in a three-way tie for third place out of 65 varsity golfers with a 6-over-par 78. Clark and Siegert also shot 78s. They were three strokes behind runner-up Skinner and seven shots behind winner Grant Prange of Slinger, who carded a 1-under-par 71.

Hintz started by parring the par-5 18th hole. After a double bogey on hole one, Hintz was on top of his game through the rest of the front nine, going 2-under to finish that half of the course at an even 36. He birdied the 422-yard, par-5 second hole; the 272-yard, par-4 fifth and the 443-yard, par-5 eighth. He wound up with a 42 on holes 10-18.

Neubauer got his season off to a solid start, tying for 25th place with an 87, that included four pars and a birdie on the 125yard, par-3 third hole.

Frombach, who filled Medford’s fifth spot in the lineup, had the team’s thirdbest score in his first varsity meet and placed 42nd. He shot a 94 that included a 44 on the front nine. He birdied the fifth hole. Klingbeil came in with a 95 that included five parred holes and was good for a tie for 43rd place. Wanke shot a 102 and tied for 52nd.

Slinger was the team champion with an impressive score of 315. Merrill was second at 324, while Aquinas (332), Wausau West (333), Monona Grove (334) and Medford’s GNC rival Rhinelander (342) rounded out the top six. Altoona was two shots ahead of Medford. The Raiders were one stroke ahead of Williams Bay. Lodi was a distant 10th at 377.

Medford also placed sixth out of seven scoring teams in the JV meet Monday. Woller led the Raiders with a 96, Thums shot a 101 and Evan Fechhelm had a 104.

At Marshfield

Medford also entered nine golfers in Tuesday’s Marshfield Tiger Invitational at RiverEdge Golf Course. The team was seventh with a score of 530.

Marshfield edged D.C. Everest 336-338 to win the team title. Prentice was a solid third at 348, three shots ahead of Stevens Point, while Marathon (377) was fifth and Antigo (399) was sixth.

Talan Mitchell led the Raiders with a 114, good for 52nd place. Cole Pernsteiner (126), Preston Netzer (129) and Adler Steinman (161) completed the actual team scoring.

Prentice’s Eliah Harding was the top scorer with an 80.