Weakley golf trio gain spots in region

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
The regional round of golf will include a Weakley County threesome.
Greenfield’s Tony Robinson and Payton Williams from Dresden finished second and third, respectively, in the individual rankings of the District 13A-AA Boys’ Golf Tournament at the Milan Country Club, while Houston Haag qualified from District 14A-AA.
All three, as well as the other top players and top three teams from each district, will move on to the Region 7A-AA Tournament next Monday at The Farms in Dyersburg.
Milan won with an impressive team score of 320. McKenzie finished second with a score of 349 and Camden was third with a score of 372.
Robinson shot a 92, while Williams fired a 95.
Haag, meanwhile, fired an 85.
Greenfield finished fifth as a team in the 13A-AA tournament and failed to qualify for the regionals.
The top five individuals from non-qualifying teams advance to next week’s regionals.
“It is kind of where we expected to finish,” Greenfield coach David Dunlap said. “Our golfers are really young, except for Tony. We are going to continue working with them and let them see the benefit of working hard. Of course Tony was real disappointed with his round as far as the score he shot.
“The goal for today was to move on and advance. We will see if he can shot a better round next week and hopefully make the state.”
Williams does have some experience playing at The Farms.
He played in the regionals in 2010. Dilday is planning on having Williams play a practice round one day this week so he will be as ready as possible on Monday.
“It was a tough day today, apparently,” Dresden coach Tommy Dilday said. “There were not too many low scores. He did not play as well today as he is capable of. But moving on is the next key. He has got to play better next time and hopefully he can in the region.”
Mason Hilliard was Greenfield’s second best golfer on the day with a round of 108. Chris Reddick and Damon Biddle both shot a118.
Milan’s Taylor Stuckey was the medalist with a score of 73. The other four top scores were Milan’s Zeb Barrett with a round of 77, Jay Hunter Taylor of Camden with a round of 81, McKenzie’s Curtis Broadbent with a score of 82 and Kegan Riley, also of McKenzie, with a score of 83.
For the Westview boys, Barrett Belote shot a 95, Emmitt Daniel fired a 97 and Jordan Long completed the round with a 106.
Milan coach Donny Joyner believes playing at home gave his team a big advantage because of the familiarity of the course.
“We have some good golfers and it makes a big difference playing here,” Joyner said. “It is an advantage for us, especially putting-wise. When you are hitting the driver or the second shot, everyone has a pretty good idea what they are going to do. But once you get around the green it turns into a little bit of an advantage. So it helps.”
Although Milan will not be playing on its home course, Joyner feels confident his team will do well. Milan has been to the regional every year for the past several years.
“We have not played there many times during the year, but we know the course,” Joyner said.
Joyner said if his team is to win the region, it will have to bring the score down to about 310. Published in The WCP 9.25.12

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