Northwestern’s Meyer finishes second at state golf tournament

Northwestern’s Trent Meyer fired matching 3-over par 75s at the Wisconsin Division 2 golf tournament Monday and Tuesday, June 14-15, but finished three strokes back of winner Ethan Arndt of Edgewood Sacred Heart.

Meyer, a junior for the Tigers, said his start was pretty consistent in the first round at Trappers Turn Golf Course in Wisconsin Dells, but he had trouble putting and ended up with pars that might have been birdies.

“Then towards the end of the round it got windy and I made a few bogeys,” Meyer said. “It sucked, but I was still tied for the lead after the first round.”

After the first round 75, Meyer’s second round started with an errant tee shot, but he recovered to make birdie on the hole.

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“I bogeyed the third hole and I just couldn’t get anything going,” he said. “Then I made a few bogeys to end the round. On the back nine I missed a ton of putts.”

On No. 16, Meyer hit a wedge to within 5 feet of the hole, but he ended with a 3-putt for bogey.

The trouble with his putter led to his second 75 and left him three shots behind Arndt for the Division 2 title.

“Both days I was hitting my putts on my line, I was just misreading them,” Meyer said. “They were big, sloping greens, so they were tough to read.”

Northwestern coach Nick Olson was surprised by Meyer’s struggles with the putter. The junior has routinely hit 30- and even 40-foot putts through the course of the season, but that wasn’t the case this week.

“It’s uncharacteristic for him, but he just wasn’t hitting them,” Olson said. “We talked throughout the round saying, ‘hey, they’re going to fall, they’re going to fall, you’re right there.’ But these were putts that were lipping out, that were stopping half an inch short.”

While Meyer was disappointed with his play on the greens this weekend, he was happy with his play off the tee, especially on a difficult course.

“I hit a lot of fairways and missed in the right spots,” he said. “It’s a pretty tight course and there’s a lot of places that you just can’t miss off the tee.”

Despite the struggles, Meyer wasn’t displeased with his first appearance at the state tournament and was already looking forward to 2022.

“It was my first year at the state tournament and to not bring my best golf and still take second feels good,” he said. “I know I’m going to keep improving. I have a year to get better, to come back and hopefully win next year.”

Olson is confident Meyer will not only be contending at the 2022 state tournament, but also has the potential to be something truly special.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he has the talent of a (NCAA) Division I golfer,” Olson said. “He’s by far the most talented golfer I’ve ever been around — he can hit any shot with pinpoint accuracy at any point in time. There’s just nothing that kid can’t do on a golf course.”