But that isn’t how Ochs is wired.
“We knew the weather was going to be pretty bad. It was time to put your big-boy pants on and grind it out,” he said.
Ochs (pronounced Oaks) followed his 70 and 72 with a hard-fought 75 to finish as co-medalist at 4-over 217 at Heatherwoode.
Teammate and reigning Horizon League champ Mikkel Mathiesen birdied 18 to tie Ochs and then prevailed in a five-hole playoff for his third individual title of the year.
“He’s not a real big guy, but he kind of has sneaky length,” second-year coach Conner Lash said of Ochs. “The wind was up, but you could hear the ball come off his golf club pretty crisp. He was ball-striking his way around the course.”
But Oaks helped the Raiders snag an 18-stroke win in their league tourney tune-up mostly because of his inner drive.
“He showed a lot of grit out there. Whoever was mentally toughest was going to play well, and that’s what happened,” Lash said.
Another WSU freshman — Adam Horn — played as an individual and finished third, one shot behind Mathieson and Ochs.
A four-sport standout at Carroll, Ochs is trying to make the starting five for the HL tourney Sunday through Tuesday in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. And he’ll be tough to leave out after sparkling showings in three events over a 10-day span.
He won the Ohio Dominican tourney while competing as an individual with a 4-under 140 score, birdieing the last hole to take the crown.
He also played as an individual in Northern Kentucky’s 13-team event last week and finished tied for third by going 73-68-69.
That landed him a spot in the Raiders’ invitational as the sixth man (most tourneys have five players and throw out the worst score each day). And he made it count.
Lash has four highly regarded seniors, and he said last week junior Andrew Flynn had done enough to earn the fifth spot for the league tourney with his solid play this season.
But Lash knows he has another good option in Ochs.
“He’s playing really well. He’s definitely earned the trust of the guys on the team,” Lash said.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into that decision. I’ll have to think about it — but I’ve been thinking about it a lot leading up to this week.”
Ochs certainly has impressed his coach with his bounce-back ability — something that will come in handy at the tricky Mission Inn resort course.
He carded a triple-bogey eight on the par-5 fourth hole in the final round, hitting his drive OB and an approach shot in a pond.
But he played the final 14 holes of regulation in even par.
“Coming off that, I knew I was still in contention. I had a lot of golf left,” Ochs said.
“I could’ve shut down and felt sorry for myself, but with the weather, I knew other guys were going to struggle as well. I thought I had a chance to get back into the thing.”
Ochs matched Mathiesen stroke for stroke in the playoff until a three-putt bogey ended it.
“When a freshman is leading a tournament and makes a big number like that early in the round, you just hope he breaks 80 and doesn’t crumble,” Lash said. “But he stuck in there to the end.”
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