Jennings gets redemption at state

PANORA — It took PCM senior Matt Jennings a long time to get over last season.

Coming down the stretch in the final round of the Class 2A Boys State Golf Meet in 2009, Jennings bladed his sand shot on the par-3 16th hole at Lake Panorama National Golf Course. The end result was an out-of-bounds penalty, ending any hopes at an individual title.

He ended up sixth overall.

“That scarred me for a long time,” Jennings said. “I hit a lot of bunker shots after that. It’s really just a learning experience. It just helped me become better and motivated.”

And boy did it pay off.

On Saturday, Jennings blew away the competition by winning the Class 2A individual title at Lake Panorama National Golf Course by seven strokes.

Jennings shot a 72 (35-37), and that put him tied for the lead after one day of play with Mitch Maiers of Waterloo Columbus. On day two, Jennings went low again with a 75 (37-38), which tied for low score with Prairie Valley’s Nate Schill.

Jennings, who will attend Division II Henderson State (Ark.) in the fall, won with a two-day score of 147 Nate Molak of Carroll Kuemper, Cole Jaeschke of Prairie Valley and Neil Malenke of Unity Christian — the defending individual champion — all tied for second with a 154.

“He is such a wonderful golfer,” PCM boys golf coach Mike Smith said. “His ball striking is phenomenal. He’s going to have so much fun down there in Arkansas at Henderson State. He’s definitely a class act.”

As a team, PCM took second overall for the second straight year to Carroll Kuemper. The Knights won with a two-day score of 628 (314-314) as they had three golfers shoot in the 70s on the final day, besting PCM’s 634 (312-322) by six strokes. PCM was tied for the day one lead with Waterloo Columbus with a 312.

Waterloo Columbus (639), Unity Christian (640) and Prairie Valley (643) rounded out a close field. Four teams were separated by five shots entering the second day, which made for a close finish.

“Expectations coming into the this year — our goal was to get to state, and it was going to borderline if we were going to get there,” Smith said. “The kids just got better and better all the time. I’m very happy with second.”

On the first day, after Jennings, sophomore Logan Van Veen was tied for third overall with a 75 (39-36). Senior Nick Peters with an 81 (42-39) and 84s from freshman Hunter Van Veen (40-44) and freshman Mitch Williams (40-44) were the final counting scores.
Junior Dylan Van Wyngarden also shot an 88 (43-45).

On day two, Williams came in second on the team with an 80 (39-41), while Peters — who will play golf at Division III Maryville University (Mo.) in the fall — shot an 82 (42-40). Logan Van Veen was the final counting golfer with an 85 (44-41), while Hunter Van Veen with an 86 (45-41) and Van Wyngarden with a 96 (48-48) were non-counting scores.

“Logan stepped up and shot 75, and that was his best round of the year,” Smith said. “Today Mitch Williams stepped up and shot 80, and that was probably his best 18-hole round. That team concept we’d talked about all year long really showed up here.”

Being one of two seniors, Jennings was hoping to go out with a team title this season. After winning it all in 2008, the Mustangs finished the past two seasons in second place.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, ever since last year it’s something I’ve thought about for a long time (winning the individual title), but it’s not as good as the team,” Jennings said. “When the team won in 2008, it was more fun for everybody than just one person.”

The finish to Jennings’ high school career might not have been what he wanted. On the par-4 18th hole, he made a double bogie. And he still won by seven shots.

Jennings struggled with finding the fairway during the week, but one club probably won him the title.

“I made a lot of putts,” Jennings said. “That helped a lot. I saved a lot of pars getting up and down. You got to go with what you have.”

With Jennings winning the individual title, it was the best PCM individual finish at the state meet since Brook Maher was runner-up in 2004.

Moving ahead, PCM will enter next season with four returning golfers from the state meet.

“Getting the young guys the experience and getting a taste of it, they are going to want to do it again,” Smith said. “Being hungry for it will make them work harder.”