'T' is for 'Tempo,' 'S' is for 'State'

From time to time, Jack Wartman has been known to rush things a little bit.

With that in mind, Wartman’s golf coach did something a little different before Tuesday’s WIAA Division 1 Brookfield Central Sectional.

“The funny thing about Jack, when he gets nervous he tends to get really quick,” Brookfield Central coach Brian Scrobel said. “So before the round I put a ‘T’ on his hand, for ‘tempo,’ because when he’s under control in tempo he has one of the better golf swings in the program.”

That one letter helped Wartman as he proceeded to shoot a 5-over, 76 on the day at Wanaki Golf Course, leaving him tied for fourth overall and earning the junior a spot in the individual portion of the state tournament next week.

“It made a difference,” Wartman said of his coach’s pre-match adjustment. “I started off the day well, played consistent, made a lot of pars. Then the weather got a little nasty. I just hung in there, played good golf and came out with a decent score.” 

Despite earning a trip to Madison next week, Wartman wasn’t bubbling with excitement. That’s because he just saw his team fall just short of earning a state-tournament berth.

As a team, Central’s season ended in heartbreak fashion as it finished with a 314, just behind Arrowhead (311) and Kettle Moraine (308).

“It’s very disappointing,” Scrobel said. “I would say we’ve been up and down all year and we finally got our players to believe in their own ability. Obviously playing against Arrowhead and Kettle Moraine, two of the top teams in the state, doesn’t help, but we put ourselves in a position to advance by leading at the turn yet didn’t finish the round.”

“We just kind of gave it away.”

Scrobel specifically pointed to the final three holes. Outside of Wartman, Central finished with three birdies, one par, five bogies, and three double bogies.

While the Lancers faded a bit, Arrowhead surged as its four scorers only tallied two shots over par on the final three holes.

Brookfield East finished seventh on the day with a team score of 345.

Despite it being his team’s season-ending performance, East coach Chris Minchk was proud of the team’s effort.

“They battled,” Minchk said. “The conditions were tough. That wind can play head games with you, but they finished strong on the back nine (when the weather worsened). They could’ve just packed it in but they didn’t. I have a couple seniors that really battled to the end and that was kind of cool.”

Senior Billy Dillon led the way for the Spartans with an 82.