Gallatin’s varsity golf
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season will get off to a flying start this Thursday.
Despite soggy course conditions thus far, Gallatin’s varsity golf
season will get off to a flying start this Thursday when the
Bulldogs host Hamilton and Albany in a tri-meet to be held at
Daviess County Country Club. The 2-time defending 1A state champion
GHS boys will compete 5 times in the next 2 weeks, while at the
same time spring tries to break the grip of a what has been a long
and lingering winter layoff from the golf links.
“It hasn’t been good,” GHS golf coach Tom Garnett said earlier this
week. “We’ve probably only played two rounds all spring and haven’t
even been able to go to the driving range to work on our swings,”
he added. “But I guess everyone else is having that same trouble.
Regardless, our kids are ready to go.”
Gallatin begins the 2001 golf season with 3 experienced varsity
golfers off last season’s conference, district and state champion
squad. Junior Brice Garnett finished 1st in conference, 6th at
district and tied with teammate and classmate Jake Humphrey with a
10th place showing at state. Humphrey also brings 2nd place
district and 7th place GRC credentials from a year ago. Senior Joey
Evans placed 8th at last year’s district and 5th in the GRC.
“We will be okay in conference and at district, and if everything
falls right we could make another run at state,” Coach Garnett
said, “but you never know who’s going to bring in good freshmen,”
he added. “Right now our top three golfers (Brice, Jake and Joey)
are four strokes better than the best three of (1A runnerup) St.
Vincent’s. We’ve had a dedicated group that has gone out and played
golf day-after-day-after-day. That’s how they’ve continued to get
better.”
A much-improved Ryan Thompson graduates this season to a varsity
spot for the Bulldogs. Three golfers, Scott Wilkinson, Duke Burge
and Pat Dickinson, are vying for the 5th varsity spot. One of those
3 will tee off with the varsity on Thursday.
The 2001 GHS golf team also includes Ben Hubbard, Luke Leeper,
George Handley, Mitch Riley, Caleb Leeper, Chris Baker, Zach
Strange, Wes Gay, Jeremy Borges, Brady Feigly, Justin Baker, Matt
Swofford and Will Jarboe.
Some teams can point to the strength of their game off the tee, in
their short game or in their putting skills. Coach Garnett looks at
Gallatin’s team strength in a different fashion.
“Our strength is up here,” Garnett said, while tapping his
forehead. “When it comes down to it, we out-think people. When we
play a practice round on a course, we’re taking notes,” he added.
“We use what we learn and that enables us to stay out of trouble.”
Following Thursday’s competition, the Bulldogs will travel to
Liberty on Monday for the Darrell Gourley Tournament. The Bulldogs
are back home Tuesday to face Plattsburg and Gilman City at DCCC.
The GRC Tournament will be held at Albany this year (April 30).
District play will be held at Lawson (May 4) and the state
tournament (May 14-15) will move to Springfield’s Payne Stewart
Golf Course. The junior varsity conference tournament will be held
in Gallatin on May 2.