Badin Off To Promising Start, Takes Sixth Place In Inaugural Badin Invitational

By Rick Cassano

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP – Tim Dixon wanted to try something a little different and a bit closer to home.

Badin High School’s boys golf coach created the Badin Invitational, the first tournament hosted by the Rams during his 12-year tenure at the helm, and was satisfied with the results Thursday at Walden Ponds Golf Club.

Dixon plans to make it an annual event after Badin took sixth place among 14 teams.

“We’ve always been traveling to somebody else,” Dixon said. “So it was like maybe we’ll just throw it out there and see how it goes. Walden is awesome. They’re like, ‘Whatever you need, we’ll make it work.’

“I started out with 12 teams, ended up with 14 and probably could’ve had 25. Next year we’ll definitely be larger so we can jump into a shotgun start instead of the wave start.”

Dixon said it works as a fundraiser for his program and noted that he likes getting schools like Ross, which rarely faces Badin teams these days.

“It was great having those guys here,” Dixon said. “Maybe it sparks something and we can get back to playing each other again.”

Bellbrook ran away with the team title, totaling 294 strokes to finish 21 ahead of runner-up Mason. The Golden Eagles also had the medalist in senior Brody Seitz, who carded an even-par 72.

Sophomore Jacob Helmers shot a 79 to pace the Rams. It was his best-ever round at Walden Ponds, which is Badin’s primary home course.

“It was a pleasure to play today,” Helmers said. “I’m happy that things are starting to pay off from the hard work I’ve done this offseason.

“It was great that Tim hosted the invitational. It’s definitely something special. I feel like it represents our program pretty well.”

The Division I Rams started the season by winning the Talawanda Invitational – the first invitational championship in the Dixon era – at Hueston Woods Golf Course and then shot 307 in besting Hamilton and Colerain in a tri-match at Twin Run Golf Course.

Dixon said Badin wasn’t at its best Thursday, but it wasn’t a bad round by any means.

“If you would’ve seen the start, you would’ve thought, ‘Oh, here we go.’ But these guys are just resilient,” Dixon said. “Usually the 320 area gets you out of sectionals, so we always want to be somewhere around there.”

He has an eight-man roster that includes only three seniors – Gavin Roberto, Luke Brehm and Dylan Mayer. Helmers, juniors T.J. Sunderman (80) and Eric Clear (84), and freshman Maddox Haire (82) did the scoring Thursday, with Roberto, Brehm and junior Wil Mathews not in the lineup.

Dixon said he’s got a balanced squad with no clear-cut No. 1 player.

“I think on any day I’ve got four guys that could shoot anywhere from even par to 80,” Dixon said. “We’re excited about what we can do this year. We’ve got some great parents too, which always makes it good.”

Roberto, Sunderman, Clear and Helmers are returning varsity guys. Matthew Lees and Ryan Vocke were both Division I district qualifiers as seniors last year.

Dixon said his two youngest players are able to deal with adversity in a positive way, noting that Helmers and Haire are both steady, even-keeled athletes.

Helmers said he focuses on precision more than power.

“I don’t hit it too far,” Helmers said. “Keeping the ball in play sometimes is a problem, but I would say I’m pretty good at finding fairways and getting as many up and downs as I can. That’s how I get most of my pars.”

He said he started playing golf when he was about 5 years old.

“It’s my sport,” Helmers said. “I just play basketball for fun.”

Badin moved up from D-II last year and placed sixth in the D-I sectional event at The Golf Club at Yankee Trace, 5 strokes behind the last district-qualifying team. The Rams will be back at Yankee Trace this year.

Dixon is hopeful that Badin can make it to districts this fall. He said nine-time defending Greater Catholic League Coed Division champion Kettering Alter will be difficult to get past, but he believes the Rams can be competitive and shoot for the top two spots in the league.

“I think the GCL this year is going to be very strong, stronger than years past from top to bottom,” Dixon said. “My goal is definitely districts. I think if we get to districts, that’s like us getting to state. And once you get to districts, anything can happen. You never know if you can pull off something crazy there.”

Dixon said golf is becoming a bigger deal throughout this area. Badin has eight players on the varsity and 10 players on the junior varsity after 31 guys tried out.

“It’s not just us. I’ve talked to a lot of coaches that had 25, 30 kids come out,” Dixon said. “The game has just exploded. You’re going to have to get better to play.

“In years past, kids could come out and be mediocre. Those kids aren’t making it now. It kills me because I want to keep everybody and I want everybody to learn the game and play it the rest of their lives, but we just don’t have the budget to have three or four teams. And we don’t have the space. We’re limited on tee times.”

Helmers said the Rams are setting a high bar for themselves this season.

“I think if we really push ourselves and play to our full potential, we could make it to state this year,” Helmers said. “I feel like we have a very good, structured team where we can flip-flop people around. Our coach has to make hard decisions on who plays and who doesn’t play.

“I love this team. It’s good all the way around. We’ve got a really good group of guys, so it’s a very fun time to be with everybody. I look forward to it a lot. We don’t treat it like a major PGA Tour event. We just really have fun with it.”

Badin will compete in the Mason Invitational at Glenview Golf Course on Tuesday.

Here are the results from the Badin Invitational:

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Bellbrook 294

2. Mason 315

3. St. Xavier 316

3. Talawanda 316

5. Fairfield 322

6. Badin 325

7. Harrison 328

8. Lebanon 332

9. Fenwick 334

10. Sycamore 338

11. Oak Hills 340

12. Dayton Chaminade Julienne 341

13. Ross 342

14. Hamilton 367

INDIVIDUAL TOP 10

1. *Brody Seitz (Bellbrook) 72

2. Liam Reynolds (Bellbrook) 72

3. Kellen Morr (Lebanon) 73

3. Luke Wehner (Bellbrook) 73

5. Quinn Farrell (Dayton Chaminade Julienne) 74

5. Carson Pennington (Fairfield) 74

7. Jack Hellmann (Mason) 75

8. Ryder Jallick (Talawanda) 76

8. Charles Neeley (Fenwick) 76

8. Christian Sander (Mason) 76

*Won scorecard tiebreaker for first place

GCL COED RESULTS

BADIN: Jacob Helmers 79, T.J. Sunderman 80, Maddox Haire 82, Eric Clear 84, Dylan Mayer DNF

DAYTON CHAMINADE JULIENNE: Quinn Farrell 74, Simon Schoen 79, Owen Collins 92, Daniel Kolton 96, Adam Weinel 104

FENWICK: Charles Neeley 76, Cam Neeley 84, Grady Zahora 86, Sam Kennedy 88, Hunter Rowden 93

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