Colton Watson’s chip-in for his tournament-leading fifth birdie puts him in some elite company after the first round of the IHSAA boys state golf tournament at Prairie View in Carmel on Tuesday, June 16.
The senior finished the day with a 1-under 71 for fourth place, three shots off the lead behind Center Grove sophomore Drew Carlson, Castle freshman Alexander Cook and Westfield senior Hudson Kutchma, who each shot 68s.
It’s the best round by a Panther at state since Happy Gilmore’s opening 70 in 2024. The last Panther to make the top five was Kyle Perry in 2007.
The finish was a little tougher for some of the other Panthers, who shot a 318 and sit 12th going into the last round. The weather was almost perfect for the first nine, but the rest of the round was played in a howling wind.
Rain hit just as Watson’s chip from about 15 feet rolled in to end South’s round. Watson came out firing with birdies on three of his first five holes to finish the back nine at a 1-under 35.
“Great round by Colton,” South coach Dustin Carver said. “With figured it up, he had only 20 putts, so he had a lot of chips and close to chip-ins. It was a good day for him.
“The rest of the boys, we got started and played pretty solid for the most part. But holes 14-15-16-17 is a tough stretch. You have to keep it in play. But 16 and 17, if we could get by those two holes with a decent score as a team, I’d think we’d be sitting pretty good turning to the front knowing the teams behind us would have to play in that wind.”
More bad weather is expected for Round 2, so tee times have been moved up an hour to start at 7:30 a.m. South will tee off on No. 10 again, starting at 8:50, paired up with Plymouth, Franklin and Trinity Academy.
Carson Gady had a tough time in that stretch with five straight bogeys (with one double) and was playing the front nine in 2-under until doubles on 8 and 9 for a 79 and a tie for 49th.
Junior Karl Bailey, in his first round at state, had an 83 (T77). He had two doubles and a bogey navigating 15-16-17-18, but finished up par-par.
Easton Bellini and Owen Wisley each had 83s and found trouble on the last few holes of each nine.
“Karl got some bad breaks,” Carver said. “We just didn’t putt very well at all. Carson had some bad breaks there, going double-double. We’ve just got to go out and focus on us. If we can finish in the 10, I think that would be a pretty good turnout for us”
The weather was a big factor. Wind was in the forecast (10-15 mph), but ended up a lot stronger than expected, Carver said, howling to at least 25 to bring in a squall line that arrived just as the Panthers finished.
“Those two holes are pretty tough,” Carver said of 16-17. “Then you add a difficult left to right wind and it’s blowing 20 mph against you, it’s hard to choose what club to hit. You don’t practice those shots all the time, so you have to step up and trust what you’re doing and swing to that number and see what happens.”
Watson, who tied for 45th last year, was on target all day, hitting 15 greens to give himself plenty of birdie-par opportunities.
“Fairways and greens,” Carver said. “That’s a lot of Prairie View. You have a round like that, it’s pretty special.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South’s Colton Watson in top 5 at IHSAA boys state golf
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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By Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
