Tenlen wins playoff for conference title

HURLEY - A frustrating day of golf ended well for Hurley's Jeff Tenlen.

Tenlen's 84 put him in a tie for the best score at Tuesday's Northern Wisconsin Golf Conference meet at Eagle Bluff. It also put him into a first-place tie with Chequamegon's Zach Carper for the overall conference medalist with a score 244 from the three conference meets.

"I was surprised that I was still in contention at the end," Tenlen said.

Tenlen became meet medalist over Carper by looking back on the card.

He then became the overall conference medalist by winning a playoff that went two holes.

Hurley won the conference meet 375-384 over Chequamegon. Prentice was third with 470.

The Screaming Eagles won the overall conference crown, 736-763 over Hurley with Prentice third at 911. Hurley's win Tuesday was its only conference meet victory; Chequamegon won the other two.

"It's always a battle between Hurley and Chequamegon for the conference," Hurley coach Jeff Tenlen said.

It was a battle between their best golfers for conference medalist also.

Both Carper and Tenlen bogeyed the par 3 ninth hole. Carper hit left of the green and Tenlen thought he hit the middle of the green, but there was a lot of spin on it and that pulled it off.

On the par 3 18th hole, Tenlen stuck his tee shot on the green and Carper missed it left.

That meant Carper had to chip and then one putt for par while Tenlen could two putt for par. Tenlen did that and Carper needed two putts, giving Tenlen the victory.

After shooting a 40 in the fog Monday, Tenlen shot a 43 on the front nine and a 41 on the back nine Tuesday when there was no fog but wind chills stayed below freezing.

He recovered in time to win his first playoff.

"I got over it," Tenlen said. "I guess I was excited to play in a playoff. It was fun to be a part of it. I play better when there's something on the line."

Hurley's Noah Huotari finished third with an 88. Teammate Morgan Pinardi finished fourth with a 95 after going back on the card to break a tie.

"That's really nice for Morgan, her last conference match with her being a senior," said coach Tenlen, who was cutting greens in the snow in the morning.

Huotari also finished third in the final conference standings with a 260.

Chequamegon's Kurt Mussatti was fourth with a 273 and teammate Parker Zeman was fifth with a 278.

Results

Hurley (375) Jake Tenlen 84, Noah Huotari 88, Morgan Pinardi 95, Adam Hendricks 108, Eli Harma 111, Ethan Everson 118 (he shot a 59 in Monday's nine-hole invite).

Chequamegon (384) Zach Carper 84, Parker Zeman 95, Trevor Theis 102, Kurt Mussatti 103, Rick Ernst 103.

Prentice (470) Zach Gonzalez 98, Karl Lind 119, Jed Hallstrand 124, Gage Anderson 129, Brock Burrier 135.

Medalist: Jake Tenlen, Hurley, 84.

Final conference standings

Top five finishers are all-conference selections

1. Jake Tenlen, Hurley 244; 2. Zach Carper, Chequamegon, 244; 3. Noah Huotari, Hurley, 260; 4. Kurt Mussatti, Chequamegon, 273; 5. Parker Zeman, Chequamegon, 278.

Team

1. Chequamegon 736, 2. Hurley 763, 3. Prentice 911.