SUNBURY ? And there it was.
That "Joe Cool" smile.
Calvert's Jeremy Hanna was back.
He had his swing back.
He had his swagger back.
He even had his strength back, strong enough to help his Nana (Elaine Hunt) up a paved hill on the course.
After a rough first nine holes, Hanna recovered nicely with a solid second nine on Friday at the Division III State Boys Golf Tournament at North Star Golf Resort.
Hanna fired an 83 on the day, tying him for 22nd with seven other golfers, and 10 back of the co-leaders, Cameron Michalak of Grove City Christian and Andrew Bieber of Gates Mills Gilmour Academy.
But he likely doesn't know that yet. Hanna said he wasn't going to look at the leaderboard because he already knows what he has to do.
"I'll go out (today) and know that I have to go low if I want to have a chance at anything," Hanna said."I'm sure there are going to be some pretty good scores. I'm going to have to play well tomorrow."
What he needs to do is play like he did on his second nine holes on the day, where he had six pars, a birdie and two bogeys.
"That's how you handle adversity," Calvert golf coach Bob Williams said. "After a bad front nine to come back and shoot a 37 after you felt miserable. To come back and do that is how you handle adversity."
That came after a rough first nine holes. He started his day on No. 10, where a penalty shot led to a bogey. He recovered with three straight pars but the wheels came off after that.
On No. 14, he double bogeyed courtesy of a three-putt. He followed that with a bogey on No. 15 and then closed the back nine with three more double bogeys.
"All golfers feel that way. Eighteen holes is two games. You have your front nine and you have your back nine," Williams said. "The finish of his front nine was not good and he had a chance to rethink and take off and he did it."
The turn, while not much of a break, was enough to shake the memory and allow Hanna to refocus.
"I didn't get down on myself. I just lost my rhythm for a few holes. Those last few holes just kind of blew up," Hanna said. "It kind of built upon itself."
He opened the second nine with four straight pars before bogeying No. 5. He got it back on No. 6 with a birdie putt. He made par on the next two holes before three-putting on No. 9 to finish the day with a bogey.
"The second round, my short game saved me the first five holes," Hanna said. "My short game was phenomenal. (But) my irons weren't very good today."
He returns to action this morning at 9:48, teeing off once again from No. 10.
