Some days, Braden Mueller isn’t even the best golfer on his team.
On Thursday, he was the best golfer on the course.
The Shawano Community High School junior was the lone golfer out of 64 players to shoot in the 70s as he won medalist honors at the Stu Anderson Invitational at River Island Golf Course in Oconto Falls.
“Braden’s played well all year long,” Shawano coach Dean Kugler said. “We’re very proud of the way he’s played.”
Mueller was pleased with his score (78) and place, but he’s a perfectionist on the course.
“It could have been better, but it’s pretty good considering the conditions today,” Mueller said.
The conditions were rough for the golfers. They had to deal with temperatures in the low to mid-40s. The wind gusts gave the players fits.
“When you’re playing some of these holes into the wind, it’s difficult,” Kugler said. “It makes it tough, so scoring is up. But that’s to be expected. We play in this all year long.”
As a team, Shawano placed fourth out of 13 schools. Marinette was first (337), followed by Bay Port (341) and New London (351).
“We played about as well as we normally do,” Kugler said.
Shawano’s No. 1 golfer Ian Lewis shot an 88 – to tie for 13th place overall — logging a 41 on the front nine and a 47 on the back.
“Ian usually is right along with (Mueller), but he kind of played a little bit over the top today,” Kugler said.
Also for Shawano, Cole Huntington carded a 96 (47-49), Triston Krueger a 98 (48-50) and Ryan Hoffman a 102 (51-51).
Mueller, who logged a 74 in a meet earlier his season, was on his game. His scorecard certainly reflected that. He had a 39 on the front nine and a 39 on the back, shooting eight over on the par 70 course. He didn’t register anything but threes, fours and fives, finishing with nine pars. Mueller also notched a birdie on the 279-yard No. 5.
“I put my drive out in the middle with a 6-iron and dropped it three feet from the cup from 160 (yards), and I put that in for birdie,” Mueller said.
Mueller, who is in his third season on varsity, had five pars on the back nine after he got into his comfort zone. He was happy with the way he played his irons his entire round.
“I was dropping them on pins the whole day,” Mueller said. “And my putting was pretty on. It was back and forth.”
Mueller, who mentioned holes No. 9 and 18 really got the best of him despite logging bogeys on each, battled the weather all afternoon. The wind was in his face a lot, making it hard to judge distances. However, he seemed to manage quite well.
“I tried to play a lower lofted club, just take a little off and lay it up on there,” he said.
Mueller knows if conditions were ideal, he could have possibly shot a season-best score.
“It could have been a lot lower, a lot lower,” Mueller said. “Maybe in the lower 70s.”
With regionals less than two weeks away, Kugler would like to see his guys clamp down for a strong postseason push.
“As team I’d like to see us take our scores down just a touch,” he said. “We’re just a little too high to be able to be competitive both in conference and regionals.”
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