HINCKLEY, Ohio (Aug. 10, 2023) -- On Thursday, the Rocky River Pirates got a sneak peek at the course they hope to play on ... and conquer ... this October. Pine Hills Golf Club will host Northeast District in a couple months. On Thursday, River made its way around the 6,456-yard, par-71 track to the tune of an eighth-place finish in the Brunswick Tee-Off Classic.
The Swinging Corsairs authored a four-man score of 316. It was a good day for a squad not that far behind a tightly-packed group of competitors. St. Ignatius took first place with a 316. In beating 10 teams, River logged its second straight first-division (top 50% in standings) finish and its third in its last four events.
Senior Luke Dietrich scrambled his way around 10 missed greens to fire a 36-39--75. His fourth straight round in the 70s was built on 13 pars. Dietrich did manage one birdie when he drained a 25-foot put on the 310-yard, par-4 third hole, the senior's final hole of the day.
Fellow senior Nick Tianello carded his best round of the young season, turning a pair of birdies and nine pars into a solid 37-39--76. River's third and fourth scores were posted by Dan Capka (39-41--80) and Caden Lawrence (41-44--85).
Coach David Hendrickson noted the team's course management as key to making the most of Thursday's event hosted by Brunswick High School: "There were a lot of positives to take away from today, including our ball striking and course management. That ability to think our way around angles, pin positions, and hazards will become more and more important in order to do big things in October."
Rocky River hit 32-of-72 (44.4%) of its greens while averaging 32.8 putts per man.
Bradley Chill (St. Ignatius) and Kyle Smith (Green) finished as co-medalists at Pine Hills. Both carded 2-under 69s.
The 2022 Pirates -- with an almost identical roster to their Thursday one -- played PHGC twice. In a pair of 20-team tournaments, they finished 11th twice. They averaged a team score of 331.5.
So, perhaps the Corsairs have managed their way to finding 15 strokes so far this fall. Now they want to continue to improve and manage their way back to Pine Hills in October.
CANNON FIRE ...
ON DECK: Rocky River will close out its busy week on Friday when the team competes in the Great Lakes Conference Preview at Rawiga Golf & Country Club in Seville. The Pirates won last year's league preview event (Aug. 5, 2022) -- on the same course, firing a 321 and besting the Westlake Demons by 5 shots. River would go on to take second place in the GLC Tournament at Grey Hawk Golf Club Sept. 19.
YOUNG BUCS: The Pirate junior varsity team continued its fine start to the 2023 season with a runner-up finish at the Cardinal Classic hosted by Mentor High School. River carded three rounds in the 80s (Noah Opdycke 80, Finn Potts 87, Nolan Toole 88) en route to clocking a silver-medal 345 as a team. Opdycke's round marked a career-best. The Double-R JV has thus far registered a pair of top-3 tournament finishes and is 2-0 in matches. Potts (85.3) and Max Lehmann (83.3) have been River's top scorers in the early going.
by Skip Snow
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