Pioneers take 3rd at district
The Warren County High School golf team turned in another successful performance Monday in the District 7-AAA tournament.
The Pioneers earned the right to move on to regional play by placing third, turning in a 346 on the day at the not-so-forgiving Riverwatch Golf Course in Smithville.
The front nine proved to be a challenge for the golfers as high scores were posted as the teams made the turn.
Alex Self and Andrew Brock carded the two low scores for the Pioneers. Self made the turn with a 43 on his card while Brock struggled on the front nine and turned the corner with a 47.
Cody Durham posted a 43 on the front nine with Cody Pryor carding a 44 and Grant Bullen had a 58 entering the back nine.
Self turned in a 41 on the backside as he led the Pioneers with a round of 84 on the day. Brock had a solid round on the back nine as he posted two birdies for a 38 and a total of 85 on the day. Durham struggled a little over the last five holes but posted a 45 with a total of 88. Pryor also had a 45 on the back nine as he carded an 89 for the tournament. Bullen made up ground on the back nine with a 51 but posted a 109 for the tournament.
The Pioneers finished 18 strokes of the lead behind Oakland, which posted a 328 on the day. Oakland was led by Philip Pettitt, who carded a 75 on the day for the best round of the tournament. Pettitt posted a 41 on the front nine and turned in a two-under 34 on the back nine, just missing an eagle put on the 18th hole. White County’s Travis Poss finished second with a round of 80 and Rob McMillian of Cookeville finished third, posting an 81.
Cookeville had a 333 on the day, while the Pioneers’ 346 was 12 strokes better than fourth-place finishers Riverdale with a 358.
“I was a little disappointed finishing third,” said coach Keith Maxwell. “I felt like we are as good as anyone in the district and I felt like we should have played closer than we did.
“This was a tough course to play today. The greens are very hard and when the wind picked up it made it a lot tougher. This team is still young, and has to learn how to play in all conditions and not let it intimidate us. Over all this team did an outstanding job. The front nine was hard on everybody and our kids hung in there and made up for it on the back nine. Everybody kept their composure and that’s hard to do for freshmen and sophomores. So that’s a positive step.”
The Pioneers will travel to Henry Horton for the region tournament on Monday.