Golf: Hank Miller cards 35 to lead Waynedale past Smithville

ORRVILLE — As Hank Miller finished his round Tuesday, calmly sinking a putt, he extended a fist pump in the air. The Waynedale sophomore had just put the finishing touches on the best nine-hole match of his career with a round of 35, one under par.

Little did he know that his score all but locked up a huge Wayne County Athletic League victory as Miller took medalist honors in the Golden Bears’ 159-169 win over Smithville at Riceland Golf Course.

"I just had to have confidence in myself," said Miller, whose previous low was a 38. "I have a great team behind me, a bunch of guys who can shoot low, and just had to do my own thing out there."

Miller's day to remember couldn't have started any worse, however, as he struggled hitting balls off the tee on the range prior to match.

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The underclassman was able to settle those nerves from the start, though, leading to an impressive 1-under-par 35 in helping Waynedale improve to 4-0 on the young season.

"I think he was pouting early on, but you never can base your range session on how you're going to play," Bears coach Melinda Budd said. "He obviously was able to pull it together, hit a couple good shots and away he went. It looked pretty smooth."

The result was a round that included three birdies and, more importantly, the low round that was enough to top teammates Jordan Miller (39) and Hudson Barkman (41) to secure a key early-season win in a wide-open WCAL. Two of those birdies came midway through his day, with the final one coming on the ninth hole.

"I got to the first tee and I was stressing a little bit," Hank Miller said. "I was worried, because that wasn't my best range session; it made me nervous.

"After the first hole I was able to pull it together and realized that, hey, I'm still in this. I just had to relax."

He was in such a rhythm throughout the day that even Smithies coach Jay Winans was quick to take his hat off to the 10th grader following the match.

"Just watching him all day, hitting shot-after-shot, even our guys were like, 'Man, he's locked-in,'" the coach said. "It's a team game, but he played well today."

Hank Miller’s score play a bigger role in the victory than he could’ve ever imagined.

Smithville's top two players — Hunter Pertee and Gavin Von Almen — carded 38 and 40, but the team was unable to get that third scorer to help close the gap. Mason Shutt added a 44 in the setback for the Smithies.

It was Waynedale, who fields one of the youngest rosters in the area as it started four sophomores and a freshman in its lineup on Tuesday, that passed with flying colors in one of its first big tests of the year.

Along with Hank Miller, fellow sophomore Jordan Miller and freshman Barkman, and the team's lone senior, Mark Yoder, was able to overcome some late-round struggles to finish with a 44.

It was that middle pairing of Hank Miller and Barkman that turned an early five-stroke deficit, after the first group’s scorecards were finalized, into a 10-shot win.

"I really thought it would be within one or two strokes, the way I was watching them play," Budd said. "I left the middle group to catch-up with the other groups, and they just turned it on at that point.

"It's a crazy game. It didn't look very pretty, and I didn't think we hit it that well, but we made it work."

It was Hank Miller’s day, however, that highlighted the win as he was so excited following play, even taking a picture of the scorecard with his cell phone.

“I try not to think about my score too much while I'm playing, because it kind of gets in my head, but out there I was just playing my own golf,” he said. “I knew that I was playing well; you have that feeling. But you just have to play golf and play it one hole at a time.”

“It's still the same game,” Hank Miller added. “I know that I played a good round today, but that's just one round and I still have to play solid the rest of the year to give our team the best chance.”