Momentum is important in competitive golf, and Austin Crowder recently regained some.
The timing couldn’t be better for the Center Grove graduate, who looks forward to the Indiana Amateur Open starting today at Otter Creek Country Club in Columbus.
Crowder, a senior for the IUPUI men’s golf team, is one of 10 Johnson County players competing in the event, which dates back to 1900. He and another Greenwood resident, former champion Sean Rowen, are part of the same group today and Tuesday.
It will the fourth time playing in an Indiana Amateur for Crowder, who won the Indiana PGA Northern Open last week in a playoff after shooting a 4-under-par 68.
“It’s kind of tough to describe,” Crowder said of the Amateur. “First of all, it’s a lot of fun and a tournament everyone wants to win. I love Otter Creek, so if I don’t play well I have no excuses.
“But it’s a four-round event. You have to play consistently and there are a lot of good players out there.”
Since 2007, the state amateur has been hosted by eight different courses throughout Indiana. This marks the fourth time since then it’s been at Otter Creek, where it was previously played in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
Rowen, who captured the last of those, looks to become the 23rd player in tournament history to win multiple state amateur titles. Last month Rowen won the IGA Tournament of Champions at Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville with a score of 71-68—139.
More recently he was runner-up at the Tony Blom Invitational in Cincinnati, losing on the third playoff hole at Maketewah Country Club.
Rowen has finished no worse than a tie for sixth in the last five Indiana Amateur Opens.
“I feel I’m in a good place with my game right now,” said Rowen, 44, whose first Indiana Amateur came when he was a player at Cathedral High School in the early 1990s. “There are probably 10-15 guys who over four days could win it. Four days is more of a grind and more of a mental test.
“I’ve had a handful of top-four finishes. It’s the competition against the younger kids that helps keep me young. I’m not willing to give in yet.”
Teeing off just before 2 p.m. today and Tuesday is another group featuring Center Grove alums Ethan Shepherd and Tyler Kitchel. Shepherd, who’ll soon start his sophomore season at Indiana University, finished second at the 2016 state amateur.
Zach Carrabine, another former Trojan golfer, looks to rebound after a disappointing junior season at Butler.
“My game wasn’t far off. It was more mental stuff,” Carrabine said. “I’m playing decent. My game has improved since the spring season and is trending in the right direction.”
Carrabine failed to make the cut at the 2016 state amateur, but he rebounded to place 28th last summer at The Hawthorns Golf and Country Club in Fishers.
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Indiana Amateur Championship
When: Today through Thursday
Where: Otter Creek Golf Club North/West
Johnson County entrants: Zach Carrabine, Austin Crowder, Sam Gorall, Alex Heck, Matt Jordan, Tyler Kitchel, Wayne Moore, Joshua Oldham, Sean Rowen*, Ethan Shepherd.
* – 2015 champion
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