BOWLING GREEN — Weston Prenger couldn’t help but smirk after seeing another putt roll up to within an inch of the cup without dropping on No. 7 at Stone Ridge, his 16th hole of the day.
As Wynford’s lone qualifier at the Division III district tournament, Prenger ended his career with an 88 after seeing eight or nine putts either lip out or stop just shy of the cup.
“He was hitting well off the tee,” coach Michael Powers said. “Just couldn’t get the putts to fall.”
It was Prenger’s third trip to Stone Ridge, having been part of the qualifying team as a sophomore and junior, but senior year he made the trek alone.
Well, sort of.
Although his teammates weren’t playing alongside him, they all made the trip to Bowling Green in support.
“It was fun to go out one last time and at least I got people out of school,” Prenger laughed. “It was a fun time at the hotel (Wednesday night) and just a good experience today with all of them watching and cheering me on.
“Overall it was a fun day … obviously wanted the score a little better, but nothing to complain about.”
And as much as Powers would’ve loved to have been coaching the team as a whole, the experience of getting to essentially caddy for Prenger and walk alongside him for 18 holes was one he won’t forget.
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“He was encouraging and just trying to keep my head in it when everything was going downhill,” Prenger said. “He’s a good coach, we’ve had a good four years.
“He’ll keep this program going.”
The cupboard is by no means bare with the Royals boasting the biggest golf team in the greater area. But of those 19 in the high school program, eight are seniors and have been instrumental in developing this golf program to what it is today.
And, arguably, nobody has done more in the last four years for it than Prenger.
“I’ve always just played golf for fun and everything else that came along with it was a bonus,” he said. “It was nice to win some league (titles) and a sectional, just everything that came along with it — I couldn’t really ask for much more.”
Crestview, sectional champions a week ago, finished 15th as a team with a 378. And while the Cougars weren’t able to tap into the magic of the 2012, 2013, and 2014 teams that made state, they got something just as valuable — experience.
“I told them to just soak this in and learn from this,” Crestview coach Rick Belcher said. “We could be back next year.”
The Cougars were led by sophomore twins Cole and Carter Bowman who shot an 89 and 90 respectively, lone senior Kaden Dickerson carded a 94 in his final round, sophomore Kayn Patton had a 105, and freshman Zander Washburn’s 106 was the drop.
In the Division II district tournament hosted by Maumee Bay Resort, Galion’s Nate McMullen and Parker Tinch, along with Clear Fork’s Landon Ball all vied for one of two individual qualifying spots for the state tournament next weekend at Firestone Country Club.
Unfortunately for McMullen, his season and career came to an end Thursday afternoon after carding an 87 to finish 20th overall — 79 was the advancing score via a playoff. Tinch, a sophomore was four strokes back at 91 to place in a tie for 33rd alongside Ball, a junior.
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Ohio high school golf: Weston Prenger, Crestview boys out at districts
