Jake Bobin finishes birdie, par, par, par to earn his first trip to the IHSAA state finals by firing a 74 at Sandy Pines in DeMotte

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Ominous clouds hovered over Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte prompting tournament officials to wisely rush through the IHSAA regional awards ceremony enabling golfers, coaches and parents to hurry to the parking lot sooner Thursday afternoon.
Hours later, a tornado was spotted in DeMotte.
Well before that, there was the calm before the storm in the form of a long, lean teenager from Chesterton.
Cruising at even par with six holes remaining, Trojans junior Jake Bobin had put himself in good shape to earn one of the three state qualifying spots that go to the top golfers playing for teams that didn’t qualify. He needed only a solid finish to make the field for the ultimate tournament for Indiana high school golfers.
But this was golf and anything can happen in golf to anyone on any day. Bobin carded a double bogey, followed by a bogey.
Suddenly, with four holes remaining, four holes that would tell the story of whether the pressure finally had pierced his bubble, Bobin needed to be better than solid. He needed to be exceptional.
Birdie, par, par, par and Bobin earned a trip to the state finals on June 16 and 17 at challenging Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel. He didn’t need to get in a playoff to do it, sparing that hurdle by a stroke.
Bobin and pressure were locked in a staredown and pressure blinked first.
Bobin has his ups and downs during rounds but has shown a consistent ability to bounce back from rough patches without losing control of the round.
He often doesn’t card as many pars as his final scores, usually in the low-to-mid-70s, would indicate, but his 18-hole scores from round to round are remarkably consistent.
The finish wasn’t the first impressive bounce-back of the day. Playing the back nine first, he made par on each of his first four holes. Then he lost two strokes to par in the next three holes and responded with his hottest streak of the day: birdie, par, birdie, par, par.
Bobin’s 37-37 round was topped only by Trinity’s Nathan Palmer, who shot a 68, and Ben Dividio of Elkhart, who was at even par 72.
Bobin finished in a three-way tie for third with a 74.
The Trojans finished ninth in a strong field of 15 schools by shooting a 331. Trinity won the team competition with a 299 and Elkhart placed second with 310 strokes. Only the four best of five scores count toward the team tally, but the highest score is used to break ties. That tiebreaker came into play when South Bend St. Joseph and Valparaiso tied at 316. St. Joe advanced, thanks to Max German winning the tiebreaker with an 84.
For Chesterton, freshman Miles Mulcahy concluded his impressive postseason by shooting an 83. Mulcahy carded an 81 on The Course at Aberdeen in the DAC championship and an 80 at the sectional played at Forest Park.
Mulcahy attributed his late-season climb up scoreboards to “playing more aggressively overall.”
Bobin’s game also has stood up well to postseason pressure. He was medalist with a 73 at the DAC, earning him conference MVP honors, and tied for second at the sectional with a 76.
Freshman Zac Racette shot an 84 Thursday and senior Drew Pacillio’s 90 was the third score used.