GOLF

The Country Club of Lexington hosted the S.C. High School League Class 5A golf championships last week.

Host team Lexington played well, finishing tied for 4th with Spartanburg. Rock Hill dominated the event with 3 players finishing in the top 10.

Zach Reuland of Rock Hill shot a 5-under-par 67 in the final round to lead his team and earn medalist honors for the tournament. Rock Hill’s 585 was 25 shots in front of Dorman and Mauldin who tied for second.

Ethan Kitts led the way for the Wildcats, placing 9th individually with a score of 4-over-par 148 to earn All-State honors. Teammates Maverick Mullinax and Dillon Hite tied on 152, for 17th place.

Chapin and River Bluff placed 13th and 16th respectively.

Over at Camden Country Club in Camden, the Gilbert golf team had a 2-day score of 654 to place 5th in the Class 3A tournament. Bishop England won with a score of 612, followed by Chesnee, Woodruff and the host team Camden.

Blake Dimsdale earned All-State honors as he finished in 10th with a score of 12-over-par 152.

In college news, both the South Carolina Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers advanced out of NCAA regional play and into the NCAA National Championship. The Tigers placed third in the Texas Regional while the Gamecocks had to win a playoff to advance.

Lexington’s Caleb Prove-aux, who had a blistering second round at regionals for the lowest Gamecock score, had qualified with Zack McLain last fall for the USGA 4-Ball. However, this event was opposite the NCAA Men’s final.

At deadline, I was unable to confirm which event Proveaux will participate in, so please tune in next week to find out.

Our now former world number one ranked golfer Dustin Johnson, who grew up in the Midlands, battled to the final hole in the US Open with Brooks Koepka. For the second straight major, the Dutch Fork graduate placed second.

Johnson earned his competitive introduction through the SCJGA Tri-County Chapter. Hootie and the Blowfish has sponsored this program for a couple of decades and it’s a wonderful medium to develop a child’s game.

To register, visit www.scjga.org .

Par Tee Golf Center held a local Drive, Chip, and Putt qualifier this past weekend. In this past Saturday’s qualifier In the Girls’ 10-11 age group, Kaitlyn Knee-shaw finished 2nd. Caroline Hawkins finished 3rd in the girls’ 12-13 age group.

In the boys 7-9 age division, Will Newton finished 2nd. AJ Weil finished 3rd in the boys’ 10-11 age group. In this past Sunday’s qualifier, Rylan Penney finished 3rd in the Girls 7-9 age division. In the girls’ 12-13 age group, Charlotte Jordan finished 2nd. Payton Burch finished 1st in the girls’ 13-14 age division.

On the boys’ side in the 7-9 age group, Palmer Campuzano finished 2nd and Cameron Mazzei finished 3rd. Jackson Penney finished 2nd and Nolan Palmer finished 3rd in the boys’ 10-11 age group. In the boys’ 12-13 age group, Jonathon Nimmo finished 1st and Chase Cline and Grant Skelley were 1-2, respectively, in the boys’ 14-15 age group.

All these players moved one step closer to competing at Augusta National next year.