FRANKLIN - A team championship was Warsaw senior Tad Nieter's goal at this week's golf state finals, but in the end, he had to settle for a seventh-place tie in the individual portion of the tournament.
"It wasn't exactly the way I planned (my senior year) to end, but it will do," Nieter said of his seventh-place finish, shooting a 144 over his two rounds at Legends of Indiana Golf Course in Franklin Tuesday and Wednesday.Nieter's score tied him with Castle's David Erdy, but both players shot well above Columbus North's Tyler Duncan. Over his 36 holes, Duncan shot a 136, going nine under on the second day and finishing with a course record 63.
"That was unbelievable," Nieter said of Duncan's performance Tuesday, which included four birdies on the front nine and five more on the back.
While Duncan was owning the course on an individual level, the team from Floyd Central defended its 2006 state championship with another, shooting a 596. Carmel was the tournament's second-place finisher with a 600, followed by Bloomington South's 601 and Mishawaka Marian's 605 score, rounding out the top four.
During Tuesday's opening round, Nieter finished the course with a 73, coming back Wednesday to shoot a 71. In his first finals appearance, as a sophomore on the state-winning 2005 team, Nieter shot an 85 and 77, finishing with a 162.
"There's a big difference in my game," Nieter said, comparing his sophomore and senior seasons. "My short game is a lot better and my mental game is also a lot better."
Nieter showed his improvement over his first 11 holes Wednesday, shooting a 41, four under par, leaving him in a tie for fourth place at the time. But even with that impressive score, the Tiger senior felt he could have done much better to start his day off.
"On my first eight holes, I came within 12 feet of the cup on every hole," Nieter said, saying that he could have done much better than he did.
He may have been hard on himself for his early day showing, but his views of his back nine weren't much different.
"On the last nine, I blew a couple shots, but I had a couple more chances to lower my score," he said.
On those last nine holes, Nieter's three-under par turned into a one-over, as he bogeyed holes three, six and seven after earning his final of four birdies on the second hole.
The second day of the state finals was all Nieter's, as far as representing Warsaw goes, as the team failed to finish in the top nine during Tuesday's opening round. But even with the team out, that didn't mean his teammates were going to leave him by himself during his individual run.
"It was really nice to have them come out and support me," Nieter said of his Tiger teammates. "It felt good to have the guys at every hole, watching me out there."
