‘It’s Coleman’s tournament to win’
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Columbus North golfer Michael VanDeventer watches his tee shot on Harrison Lake No. 3 Sunday.
Coleman Glick returned from his freshman year at Tusculum College with his head hung low.
“I just wasn’t doing anything right,” Glick said.
Two rounds down, one more to go at the Columbus Men’s City Golf Championship, and the only thing low these days are Glick’s scores. The 19-year-old Columbus North grad shot a 3-under 69 Sunday at Harrison Lake to take a healthy lead into next week’s final round of 18 at Otter Creek
“I’m playing well, and I’m going to be in the championship flight,” Glick said. “I’m not going to hold myself back from being excited about it.”
Glick’s two-day total of 137 puts him four shots ahead of 16-year-old North golfer Michael VanDeventer, six ahead of two-time city champ Kenny Chavis, who’s in third, and seven in front of fourth-place Ross Pushor, who shot Sunday’s low round, 68, at Greenbelt. The foursome will field next Sunday’s championship flight.
Danny Holcomb slipped from being tied for third place to being tied for fifth with Steve Lewis at 146, while North rising senior golfer Ian Smith fell to seventh as a result of a 76 at Greenbelt.
North’s Tanner Bennett, who placed second in last year’s city tourney, is tied for eighth with Darren Hinton and Myers at 148.
“As of right now, it’s Coleman’s tournament to win, and he’s a good kid,” said 2010 champ Ryan Myers, who’s 11 shots off the lead. “Hopefully, he does it.”
After slumping through his freshman year at Tusculum, Glick went to a local golf doctor, Otter Creek head pro Chad Cockerham.
“The speed of my putts was poor,” Glick said. “I wasn’t hitting any fairways and the greens.”
A few trips to Cockerham’s office got everything right, Glick said. He’s feeling better about his scores of 68 and 69, compared to the 76 he averaged as a freshman at Tusculum.
“One of the things he fights the most is that he’s very much a perfectionist,” Cockerham said. “Golf is a game of misses. To get him to accept the fact that he can miss it a little bit ... is tough.
“Right now, he’s playing relaxed golf.”
And others are noticing.
“He’s a good ball-striker, that’s for sure,” VanDeventer said. “He hits it well off the tee and he hits a lot of greens.”
Some would share similar observations about VanDeventer, who’s been a leader on a North team that’s finished top five in the state two straight years. The long, lanky soon-to-be junior went into Sunday tied with Glick for the lead. An uneven balance of four bogeys and three birdies equaled 1-over for the second day and 3-under for the tournament.
“It seems like I’d make a birdie, and the very next hole I’d give it right back with a bogey,” VanDeventer.
Smith could feel VanDeventer’s frustration. The 2010 Conference Indiana champion entered the day tied for third with Holcomb, was 2-under through Greenbelt’s front nine and cruising on the back before going bogey, quadruple-bogey to finish with a second-day 76.
“I had so many opportunities today, it’s not even funny,” Smith said. “I was 2-under on the front and just threw it away.”
The gateway of opportunity is closing, but Smith isn’t counting himself out yet. The same could be said for Chavis and Pushor, a few breaks and one good round away from the top of the leaderboard.
“I think it’s going to be a (first-time) champion this year,” Myers said. “The leaders have to do some very bad things, and others have to a lot of things well.”
Myers doesn’t really care who takes home the hometown title, who’s entitled to bragging while playing golf for the next 12 months, he just wants to see a good game.
“If (Glick) does it, hopefully there will be someone right there pushing him,” Myers said.
“That’s all you can ask for in a good city tournament. Just have the last couple holes mean something and have a good finish.”
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