LOCKBOURNE — For one, this was it.
For the other, there is next season.
The Division III State Golf Championships at Fox Fire Golf Club was the end of the high school career of St. John’s senior Brad Wannemacher.
He finished with a 2-day total of 158, carding a 78 Friday and an 80 Saturday on a gorgeous fall day.
Too bad his description of his overall play didn’t include the word gorgeous.
“I hit the ball terrible off the tee. I can’t stress enough how horrible I was today,” Wannemacher noted. “It started from the first swing and I never found it; my swing went south and I couldn’t get it back. I have no explanation as to why; all I know is I didn’t play very well at all.
“The last three holes in particular, where I shot 5-over, were killers.”
It wasn’t due to the pressure of trying to overcome the 78 from Friday that put him six shots back of the leader.
“I felt no pressure; the pressure was on getting here. I’m disappointed I didn’t shoot better this weekend.,” he continued. “I didn’t set there and mull over what I did wrong or if I had done this Friday night; I didn’t lose any sleep over it.”
Despite his feelings, Wannemacher was happy to have gotten the chance.
“Yes, I am happy I made it down here but I felt I had a job to do and didn’t do it. Maybe down the road, I’ll look back and it won’t hurt as much,” he added. “Friday, I drove the ball so well, well enough to shoot in the low 70s, but my short game let me down. Today, my short game saved me from a worse round.
“If I could have combined them into this round, I think I’d have been satisfied with the results.”
For Jefferson junior Austin Clarkson, he got a taste of this kind of competition, though he’d have preferred something else.
“I came down here to win because I can’t take anything for granted, like I’ll be back next year. I’ve got a lot of things to work on — especially the mental part — and this was a great learning experience for me,” he began. “I spread my drives all over the place today. I actually putted better than Friday (an 89 vs. Saturday’s 82) and my chips were better; I was putting the ball in better spots on the green where I could 1- or 2-putt instead of three, where I wasn’t the day before.”
His whole game plan Saturday — with his chance at a first- or second-team all-Ohio remote at best unless he shot a phenomenal round — was to have fun and learn.
“I slept pretty well the night before. We don’t play 2-day tournaments during the year, so it was different, but I didn’t let my round Friday bother me,” he added.  “All  I  could  do  was my  best.  I  didn’t  golf  the  way I wanted to but it makes me want to work hard on my game and get back to state next season.”