CARMEL — Actor Jason Sudeikis was unsurprisingly absent from day one of the IHSAA boys state golf meet, but his fictional character Ted Lasso powered the ethos of Center Grove on Tuesday.
On a day when they fired a 3-over-par 291 as a team and climbed to the No. 1 spot in the team leaderboard in the first round of state, the Trojans walked off the green ready to move forward and finish the job on Wednesday.
That mental attitude, which was preached at the start of the season, scraps past success and mistakes. It’s a way to chase the goal ahead.
Think of it as a reset.
Center Grove finished their day with a four-shot lead over Westfield, the defending state champion. They plan to work off a clean slate entering the second round of the state finals on Wednesday.
“That’s what we’ll talk about: be a goldfish,” said Center Grove coach Matt Rodman. “This gets wiped out of our memory. We will put in a good little practice session before tomorrow, and we’ll be ready to play.”
The Trojans were ready to play as a team in the Tuesday opener. Their body of work included two birdies and two eagles in the front nine. In the back nine, they secured two birdies and an eagle. That bested reigning state champion Westfield, who shot a 7-over-par 295, and third-place Castle, who finished 9-over-par 297.
Sophomore Drew Carlson led the individual race for the Trojans after day one. He shot a 4-under-par 68 for a three-way tie with Castle freshman Alex Cook and Westfield senior Hudson Kutchma for first place.
In his second year of high school, Carlson embarked on his state debut on Tuesday. He declared his arrival on the grand stage with an opening day performance that matched and even surpassed the veterans in the high school scene.
Carlson shot 4-under in the front nine on Tuesday. He converted four birdies on the front nine, including on hole one, three and four. He went even-par in a back nine, which included a birdie on hole 12. He bogeyed on 18.
“It was nerve-racking, but I just tried to keep going and trust my game,” Carlson said. “Going down the stretch, I knew I was up there and leading for a little while, so I was just trying to keep on going. Just don’t let off the gas and I just got those up and downs at the end which really helped me at the end.”
The Trojans, who won their last state title in 2021, outmatched defending state champion Westfield on Tuesday. About one year after they dominated the state meet with a record 8-under-par 568, the Shamrocks were back in the thick of the state title race. They were the hunters that have become the hunted at state where other teams are chomping at the bite for state gold.
But ask the Shamrocks and they’ll say that their state quest is powered by fun, not anxiety.
“We’re just playing with no pressure right now just because we came third and second at sectionals and regionals, but I feel like we just come out here and compete as hard as we can,” Kutchma said. “Coach (Josh) Bryant told us just to be wolves today and just kind of go out there and just have fun.”
The Trojans will go to sleep on Tuesday on top of the leaderboard, but they’ll wake up on Wednesday like they’re not.
Their mindset is focused on starting from scratch like if everyone is at even-par and at the same level. Eighteen more holes will determine if that approach will help them clinch their first state title in five years.
“It’s wide-open — any team can do what we just did,” Carlson said. “We just have to keep on doing it no matter what … We just have to come out, play like we did today and go from there.”
Marc Ray is a high school sports reporter at the IndyStar. He can be reached at marc.ray@indystar.com , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Center Grove fueled by Ted Lasso after Day 1 of IHSAA boys state golf
Reporting by Marc Ray, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Marc Ray, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
