Demons repeat as Fike takes regional golf title
May 5, 2009 North Carolina
By Michael Lindsay
Wilson Daily Times
PINETOPS -- The Fike boys golf team certainly has a knack for playing some of its best golf at the right time. Put Monday's 3-A East Regional right in that column.
Playing in gusty conditions, the Golden Demons posted a season-low 293 to capture their second straight regional title and seventh in the last nine years at Maccripine Country Club.
"This is when you want to be playing your best," head coach Jim Boykin Jr. said. "We didn't get off to a real good start, and I wondering if we were going to shoot 360. But I knew they'd settle down, and that's what they did.
"Overall, it's a positive note to go into the state tournament in."
The Golden Demons, who are the defending state champions, made their seventh straight state championship appearance and 12th in 13 years by finishing 31 strokes ahead of runner-up Hunt, which will make its 11th state tournament in 13 years.
Led by junior Spencer Whitt, who medaled with a season-low 70, Fike stayed focused through the difficult conditions -- including a 30-minute thunderstorm delay -- to advance to next week's N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A state championship.
"I'd been playing bad during the middle of the year," Whitt said. "So it feels good to have a good score and help the team out."
Right behind, Hunt, led by Paul Howell's 75, finished second, edging Northern Nash by a shot. Daniel Claytor, a Barton College signee, led the Knights with a 71.
"Fantastic," said head coach Tommy Barnes, who is in his first year coaching the Warriors. "They've had a great year, and they've worked extremely hard in the last three to four weeks, and it's paying off. We will be contenders next week."
Despite his team not making it, Beddingfield's Matthew Ellis qualified as an individual with a 77.
Whitt, making just the slightest adjustment in his setup during the couple days, made two birdies and a bogey on the front nine and had it to 3-under before hitting in the water on the 15th hole and making double bogey.
From there, however, he parred the final three holes to become Fike's first regional medalist since Brett Emmers in 2006.
"I felt good about the round," Whitt said. "I hit the ball really good, I putted good -- I just had one bad shot on 15 and that was it."
Hunt's Howell, a senior who has signed with Campbell University, erased two front-nine bogeys with two birdies in his first five holes on the back.
A bogey on the 15th and a double on the 18th, after hitting out of bounds, dropped him back into the pack. But still, with two more rounds to play -- on his future home course in Buies Creek -- is a shot in the arm, he said.
"I'm looking forward to being down there and playing my home course for the next four years," Howell said. "I'm not really expecting too much, just go out and make pars like I did today."
For the second straight year, the Golden Demons, Warriors and Ellis, who was a member of Fike's team last year, make a run at the state title.
Play begins Monday and continues Tuesday at the Keith Hills Country Club.
"This what we live for, this is why we play," Boykin said. "It's supposed to be fun, and this is fun when you get to this time. I think they enjoyed this, and I think that's one of the reasons they played well." |
NATIONAL
NORTH CAROLINA
