CARMEL – A great start led to a solid finish for Jonny Hollar Tuesday in the first round of the 79th annual boys golf state finals. Teeing off on the 10th hole at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel, the recently-graduated Warsaw standout opened his round with a birdie, and then finished with a 3-over par 75. Hollar, who won a playoff for the final advancing spot from last week’s regional at Stonehenge, was in a five-way tie for 22nd place among the 100 competitors after the first 18 holes. Hollar was slated to tee off for today’s final round just after 8 a.m. “This is the first time the boys state finals has been here, this is a great venue,” Warsaw coach Ben Barkey said, noting the state finals had been played at The Legends in Franklin for a number of years. “You can definitely tell the greens are more difficult than they were at The Legends. “The course was great, it was a lot of fun. Jonny just had two bad holes that cost him three shots. He had a couple three-putts ... other than that he played great. He got off to a great start with the birdie, and then played a solid round.” Hollar carded a 39 over his first nine holes, then played even on his final nine holes. His round included birdies on par-4 holes 2 and 10, as well as a birdie on the par-5 No. 7. “He was happy with his round, for the majority,” said Barkey. “He was just a little upset about the three-putts on the par-3s. He’s got a great mindset, and he’ll be ready for the second round.” Columbia City junior Spencer Klimek shot 4-under 68 Tuesday and held a two-shot lead over Center Grove’s Austin Crowder, Zionsville’s Drew Wood and Muncie Central’s Keegan Bronnenberg. In all, there were eight players that were under par Tuesday, while three others were even. Third-ranked Westfield, the 2013 state champion and last year’s runner-up, shot a four-man score of 295 Tuesday and held a two-shot lead over No. 6 Zionsville. Top-ranked Center Grove was in third place, three strokes back, while No. 4 Bishop Dwenger (302) and No. 5 Hamilton Southeastern (306) rounded out the top five among the 15 teams. Dwenger advanced to the state finals from the Warsaw Regional at Stonehenge, as did No. 15 Columbia City and No. 19 Homestead. Columbia City was in sixth place with a 310 Tuesday, while Homestead was tied for ninth with a 315.
BOYS GOLF STATE FINALS (Prairie View, Carmel, par-72) Team Scores – Westfield 285, Zionsville 297, Center Grove 298, Bishop Dwenger 302, Hamilton Southeastern 306, Columbia City 310, Bloomington South 311, Plainfield 313, Homestead 315, Noblesville 315, Castle 318, Lafayette Harrison 322, Oak Hill 325, Floyd Central 335, Martinsville 337 Top 5 Individuals – Spencer Klimek (Col. City) 68, Austin Crowder (Center Grove) 70, Drew Wood (Zionsville) 70, Keegan Bronnenberg (Muncie Central) 70, Joe Weiler (Bloom. South) 71, Zach Schroeder (Lebanon) 71, Cole Bradley (Harrison) 71, Thomas Lewis (Westfield) 71 Local Individual – 22nd (tie) Jonny Hollar (Warsaw) 75
