Nearly 20 Central Georgia teams to swing away in GHSA state golf tournaments (team qualifiers, top area individual scores)
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
The weather that’s played games with state baseball finals may be hanging around to toy with the GHSA state golf tournaments.
The two-round tournaments starts on Monday at 15 courses throughout the state.
Rutland is the last – and first - Central Georgia girls state champ, taking it in 3A in 2018. FPD is the area’s last boys winner, in A Private in 2017. That broke a streak dating back to Perry winning in Class AA in 1995, when there were three classifications.
West Laurens’ girls tied with Southeast Bulloch for the Area 2-4A title, each with a 300 to qualify. Upson-Lee’s girls and boys qualified, the girls second in 1-3A and the boys third.
ACE also swept, in 2-AA, the boys winning by 23 shots and the girls by 25, topping Rutland. Dodge County’s girls qualified after taking third in 1-AA.
Hawkinsville’s girls advanced by winning 3-A/II – by 74 shots - and the boys with a second-place finish, Taylor County’s boys qualifying with third place.
Lamar County’s boys play on after finishing second in 3-A/I. Bleckley County’s girls and boys qualified in 2-A/I with second-place finishes, East Laurens girls making the cut in third place.
GMC took the girls and boys titles in 2-A/II.
Alex Hays of Veterans is a boys 6A individual qualifier.
Veterans’ boys (358) finished eighth in Area 1-6A, two spots behind Houston County (353) and five ahead of Northside (430).
Ben Ridley of Jones County shot an 82 and is a 5A boys individual qualifier.
Jones County’s boys were fifth (351) in Area 1-5A, and the girls fourth (294).
Perry’s Samantha Hillhouse (108) and Caden Camp (77) are the individual qualifiers from Area 2-4A. Both the Panther girls and boys were fourth, the boys two shots behind qualifier Southeast Bulloch. West Laurens’ boys were fifth (360).
Mary Persons’ Mackenzie Hicks (90) is the girls individual qualifier from Area 1-3A. Her team finished fourth (366), a spot ahead of Peach County (375). Peach County’s boys were fifth (389) and Mary Persons’ boys sixth (391).
Rutland’s Kurt Weiche shot a 91 to qualify as the Area 2-AA individual. Rutland’s boys finished fifth, and Northeast’s girls were fourth. Dodge County’s boys took 10th in 1-AA.
East Laurens’ boys were fourth in 2-A/I.
Team qualifiers
Class 4A
West Laurens girls
Class 3A
Upson-Lee girls; Upson-Lee boys
Class AA
ACE girls, ACE boys; Rutland girls; Dodge County girls
Class A/Division I
Lamar County boys; Bleckley County girls, Bleckley County boys; East Laurens girls
Class A/Division II
Hawkinsville girls, Hawkinsville boys; Taylor County boys; GMC girls, GMC boys
Top 5 girls individual area scores (all classes)
80 – Kate Belote, West Laurens
90 – Mackenzie Hicks, Mary Persons
90 - Madi Grace Simmons, GMC
90 - Savanna Dokey, Hawkinsville
91 – Lauren Swan, ACE
Top 10 boys individual area scores (all classes)
71 – Everett Horne, Lamar County
77 – Caden Camp, Perry
78 – Alex Hayes, Veterans
79 – Josh Walker, GMC
82 – Ben Ridley, Jones County
83 – Whit Hawkins, Upson-Lee
83 - Cason Blakely, Upson-Lee
85 – Cooper Vorhees, ACE
85 - Alex Abernathy
85 - Whitt Ellington, Lamar County