Chesterton golfer Jake Bobin enters second day of state golf finals in Carmel in the middle of the pack after shooting 80 in opening round Tuesday

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

One-over par for the first eight holes and 2-over on the final seven, Chesterton junior Jake Bobin lost most of his ground to par on a three-hole stretch in the middle of his first of two days at the IHSAA state finals at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel on Tuesday.
Bobin, the DAC champion, shot a 7-over 80 and finished the day tied for 56th in a field of 108 golfers. He is scheduled to tee off at 7:20 a.m. CT on Wednesday, when one of his three playing partners is a familiar face, Valparaiso’s No. 1 player, senior Colin Kaleth, who is one stroke ahead of Bobin at +7. Both players are the only ones from their schools to advance beyond regionals.
Bobin’s first state experience started bogey, bogey. He then caught fire for a six-hole run to enter the ninth hole 1-over par. Bobin birdied No. 5, a 363-yard yard par 4 with a right bunker hugging the fairway 226 yards from the tee box, a cluster of bunkers on the left side 255 yards from the tee and three big bunkers hugging the right side of the green. It’s a hole that demands precision to have a shot at a par and Bobin birdied it.
He also birdied No. 7, a narrow 520-yard par 5 with well positioned big bunkers eager to swallow approach shots guarding each side of the green.
Bobin’s troublesome three-hole stretch started on No. 9, a par-4 that he doubled, and continued on a couple of dogleg holes. He doubled No. 10, a 384-yard dogleg left, and made bogey on No. 11, a 364-yard dogleg right, losing three strokes to par on that three-hole run.
He made par on 5 of 7 remaining holes, with bogeys on 14 and 18.
Center Grove leads the team competition heading into the final day with its top four scores combining for 3-over par. Center Grove sophomore and Castle freshman Alexander Cook share the top of the leaderboard after negotiating the 7,073-yard, par-72 course in 68 strokes.