Center Grove’s Lexi Stuart hits her approach during Saturday’s golf regional at The Legends.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Franklin didn’t win Saturday’s regional tournament at The Legends, but that’s not why co-coach Ted Bishop teared up after the final team scores were announced.
Quite the contrary.
Bishop found himself getting choked up because the Grizzly Cubs had finally ended a 24-year dry spell.
Third-ranked Center Grove successfully defended its regional title with a team score of 300, a dozen shots over par on a tough scoring day and 11 strokes ahead of runner-up Floyd Central. Franklin was third with a 314, punching a ticket to the state finals for the first time since 1999 — when Bishop’s wife Cindy was the coach and their daughter Ambry was the team’s top player.
“That’s one of the reasons it was so emotional for me,” Bishop said.
The No. 9-ranked Grizzly Cubs had become all too familiar with regional heartbreak, finishing fourth in five of the previous six years before finally breaking through.
Junior Reese Phillips, whose mother Julie (nee Drake) was also on Franklin’s last state team, led the way for this year’s edition with a 73, tied for the low individual score on the day. She was briefly in the red after posting birdies on the ninth and 14th holes and an eagle on the par-5 10th before bogeying the last two holes.
“I kind of played for my team this year,” Phillips said. “I really wanted to be the difference between us getting out.”
Phillips’ round helped offset a rougher-than-usual day for the Grizzly Cubs’ top player, Lexi Ray. The sophomore started her day with a quadruple-bogey 9 on the first hole and never fully recovered, wrapping up with an 80. Addi Bright matched Ray at that number, while Addie Livorno shot 81 and Kara Heuchan finished at 86.
“It was a total team effort,” Bishop said. “Lexi Ray has been our horse the entire year, and obviously she had a rough day, and the other girls really came through. Even all the way down to Kara; we would have won the tiebreaker with both Floyd Central and Batesville, and that’s critical from your No. 5. I couldn’t be any prouder of these girls.”
Center Grove, of course, was its usual rock-solid self, continuing to position itself as a state championship contender after tying for second place a year ago.
Camille Short led the Trojans with a 73, holing out a long birdie putt on the 18th hole to put herself into a four-way individual playoff for medalist alongside Phillips.
“Coach (Cale Hoover) told me where I was at, so I knew I had to birdie the last hole to get into the playoff,” Short said. “I wasn’t going to leave the putt short, that’s for sure.”
Lexi Stuart was right behind Short with a 74. Ellie Adkisson recovered from a rocky start, playing the last 14 holes at 2 under par to finish at 76, while Rowen Pfeifle contributed a 77. Magnolia Miller rounded out the lineup with an 81.
Hoover, who calls the regional “the most stressful day of the year,” was thrilled with how his team met the moment.
“When it gets windy out here, this place can play pretty tough, and it did today,” he said. “We had some doubles and one triple (bogey) early, but the group has been very good about — we talked Monday about just staying true to the process, and they really did that again. We did not let those things bother us too much; that number in today’s conditions was a pretty darn good score.”
Greenwood finished ninth in the team standings with a 394. Emma Baker led the Woodmen with a 93 in her final high school round, while Gracie Gasaway and Celia Stanley each turned in a 98, Lucia Agresta carded a 105 and Ella Hall added a 110.
Whiteland’s Kylie McGovern and Chloe Cooper both concluded their seasons competing side by side as individuals. McGovern finished her day with an 88, while Cooper posted a score of 91.
For the Grizzly Cubs and Trojans, there’s one more weekend of golf to play, with the state finals set for Friday and Saturday at Prairie View in Carmel. Bishop says that Franklin won’t just be happy to be there — the goal is to get onto the podium as a top-five team.
Center Grove, meanwhile, is aiming for the top of said podium.
“We’ll start getting ready and get things ramped up,” Hoover said, “and try to go win the thing.”
