CARMEL
Sam Slaughter tapped home his final putt on the 18th, turned and triumphantly rifled his ball deep into the woods before seeking out his Center Grove teammates.
After runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019 and not being able to play an official season at all last year, the Trojans climbed back to the top of the mountain on Wednesday, pulling out a one-stroke victory over Guerin Catholic at Prairie View Golf Club.
Slaughter, who had bogeyed the 16th hole before a triple-bogey 7 on the 17th, came to the last hole knowing his team was down by a shot and that he needed to beat Guerin’s Andrew White by two in order to give Center Grove an outright win. Had the two teams tied, the Golden Eagles would have won on the fifth-score tiebreaker.
“I knew 17 hurt us,” Slaughter said, “but all year, the guy that keeps me in check is coach (Matt) Rodman. He came up to me on 18, and he had nothing but positive thinking, positive mindset toward me. He trusted every shot that I told him I wanted to hit, he gave his input, and we picked the shot and we hit it.”
White scuffled up the 18th fairway, putting his second shot into the deep rough along the right tree line and then hitting his third on the ground through that same rough. Slaughter, meanwhile, calmly hit his third shot from the middle of the fairway onto the green about 20 feet from the hole; White was on the green in five.
Slaughter’s birdie putt missed the mark by a foot or so, which left White a chance to win Guerin the title — but the senior’s bogey putt from about 15 feet out slid by to the right. Slaughter then tapped in to make it official; Center Grove’s two-day total of 606 was one stroke better than Guerin and six shots ahead of Carmel.
“I honestly, stepping on the 18th tee, had no doubt in my mind that he was going to put out a good one,” Rodman said of Slaughter. “He is such an unbelievable leader, such an unbelievable kid, that the worry of where this ball off the tee and what Sam’s going to do to finish never crossed my mind.”
Franklin, making its first state finals appearance since 1986, finished in 14th place with a two-day total of 671 (+95). Grizzly Cub senior Damon Dickey, who carded an even-par 72 to tie for 12th individually at +7 overall, was also named the IHSAA’s Mental Attitude Award winner after the tournament ended.
The Trojans’ victory was very much a team effort. Sam Hord led the way on Wednesday with a 74, finishing the tournament tied for fourth individually with a 149. Brandon Heffner carded a 75, followed closely by Drew Rowen (76) and Slaughter (77). Luke Beetz finished with an 84.
The Trojans came into the day at 16 over par, three shots behind Carmel and Guerin Catholic. By the time No. 1 player Sam Slaughter tapped in for par on the ninth hole and everyone had made the turn, Center Grove had bypassed the Golden Eagles and moved into second, five shots back of the Greyhounds (+15 to +20). Brandon Heffner was the standout for the Trojans on the front side, collecting four birdies in a six-hole span on the way to a first nine of 34.
On the back side, Center Grove gradually crept closer to Carmel and took the lead for the first time after Drew Rowen and Sam Hord birdied the 14th and 12th holes, respectively. After Hord and Sam Slaughter both picked up birdies on 13, the Trojans had a two-shot advantage over the Greyhounds, +21 to +23.
The lead grew as large as three when Rowen parred the 18th hole and Guerin’s No. 5 player dropped three shots with a triple bogey, but the Golden Eagles gradually clawed back, eventually grabbing what proved to be a temporary one-stroke edge.
“Guerin’s a heck of a team,” Slaughter said. “They just got unlucky here (on 18), but we got unlucky myself on 17, so you give and you take.”
For the Grizzly Cubs, Dickey bounced back from his opening-round 79 on Tuesday.
“I was kind of struggling,” Dickey said of his second round, “but the big difference from today and yesterday was just that I just had four really bad swings yesterday. My level of play was about the same; just some blow-up swings that ruin your round.”
Franklin also got an 87 from Quin Edwards, 88 from Ian McCullough, 89 from Will McGuinness and 90 from Nate Blackwell.
Though the final two days of the season might not have gone how the Grizzly Cubs would have liked, that couldn’t diminish the overall body of work put together by this gritty, overachieving squad.
“For the program, for the younger guys, it now becomes a tangible accomplishment,” Franklin co-coach Ted Bishop said, “and as coaches, we’re going to be able to point to offseason workouts, offseason instruction, summer tournament golf. Of course we lose four seniors, so we are going to be in a major rebuilding campaign next year, but I would hope that the younger guys would find some inspiration out of these guys — because I’ve got to be honest with you, I did not see this team achieving the things that they did.”
Center Grove won an unofficial high school state championship last year at Purdue, but to be able to reclaim the real thing for the first time since 2017 was immeasurably sweeter.
Slaughter made it a point to include the Trojans who graduated last spring and didn’t get the opportunity to finish out their career on this stage.
“It’ll be nice to take a picture with (Alex Heck) with that state championship trophy,” Slaughter said, “because I truthfully believe if we would have came and played last year, we would have won it last year as well. So that feels good to be able to win that for the seniors that got it taken away, because the alumni that come through here, that’s just as much theirs as it is ours. They set the foundation for Center Grove golf, for us to step out here and win.”
The Trojans didn’t secure that win until that very last putt, leaving Rodman a nervous wreck for much of the back nine — but the coach didn’t mind afterward.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.
