There will be many matches this season where the Rochelle varsity golf team is unable to fill the entire scorecard, but Hubs head coach Glen Mehrings isn’t worried about forfeiting matches as long as his players continue to show improvements.
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ROCHELLE — There will be many matches this season where the Rochelle varsity golf team is unable to fill the entire scorecard, but Hubs head coach Glen Mehrings isn’t worried about forfeiting matches as long as his players continue to show improvements.
The Hubs opened conference play on Tuesday with a head-to-head match against Sycamore at Fairways Golf Course. While there were only three varsity players in the Rochelle lineup for the second straight meet, all three players finished nine holes with scores of 50 or better. Sophomore Megan Thiravong totaled Rochelle’s low total of 43.
“She can definitely hang with the best No. 1 and No. 2 players in northern Illinois,” Mehrings said. “She’s capable of scoring in the 39-to-42 range, and once she starts making more 15, 20 and 30-foot putts, she’ll be breaking 40 easily. She’s adjusting to a new driver and getting more feel for the greens, and I think she’s going to be fine over the next six weeks.”
Sophomore Reese Kirk added 46 for the Hubs, while junior Sean Flanagan scored 50 to round out Rochelle’s varsity lineup. The two first-year varsity players knocked nine strokes off their combined score from Rochelle’s season-opener, where Kirk shot 50 and Flanagan had 55.
“Reese stayed an extra hour a few days ago to work on his game which was really positive,” Mehrings said. “He just loves to play and it doesn’t matter whether he shoots 45, 55 or 65… Sean is so smart and he can carry things over from tennis or anything else he’s good at. He’s willing to put in the time to get better and he’s made strides to where he needs to be.”
Sophomore Ben Ranken led the junior varsity Hubs on Tuesday with 61. Despite forfeiting varsity matches early on, Mehrings sees opportunities for players to find success individually, and he said the relief of not worring about team scores could give his players an added boost. Rochelle returns to action at Fairways on Thursday with a home match against Morris.
“We just want our players to hang with the people they’re playing against,” Mehrings said. “We don’t want anyone to worry about losing the team match because he or she made one bad shot. We’re just focusing on beating the players we’re matched up with.”
