BOYS' GOLF: Golfers battle through tough course

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on May 3, 2017 10:01 AM

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FOUR OAKS -- C. B. Aycock head coach Dave Elmore, standing amid a throng of onlookers dressed in the strings of team garb, craned his neck to get a better view of the leaderboard.

Around him, a hushed crowd spoke with disconsolate players. A few, totaling team scores on cell phones, tried to remain positive.

Most, however, echoed a familiar refrain -- that Reedy Creek Golf Club, site of Tuesday's N. C. High School Athletic Association boys' 3-A East Regional, was a challenge far more stringent than one could have possibly imagined.

And they were correct.

In total, only eight players in yesterday's full field signed for scores under 80. Conversely, a third tendered cards in triple digits. In fact, just one entrant --Barton College signee and Wilson Fike senior Bryson Boyette -- managed to match par.

Suffice to say, the outing was humbling for many -- including Elmore's outfit, who finished tied for first at Reedy Creek a year ago.

"Green speed was the definite theme," Elmore said of his team's struggle, "and a few tricky pin placements... if you had a downhill putt, it was gone. That was the biggest thing (the players) talked about."

Surviving the team portion of the event was West Carteret High, whose 336 total paced the 11-team field. Corinth-Holders of Wendell finished 13 shots behind at 339, while Topsail claimed the third and final team post with a round of 334.

Following Boyette's pacesetting individual mark was Ethan Faulconer of Smithfield-Selma, who advanced with a round of 75.

Other individual qualifiers were Xavier Williams (76) of South Brunswick, Zachary Ward (77) of Northern Nash, Jacob Cook (78) of Nash Central and Eston Lee (79) of host South Johnston.

Aycock's fourth-place total of 348 was formed by Bryce Jones (83), Jake Flowers (87) and Ty Daniels (88). The duo of Austin Green and Carl Floars rounded out matters for the Golden Falcons, registering scores of 90 and 92, respectively.

Ultimately, it was not the desired ending for CBA, who had designs on returning to Pinehurst next week and improving on last spring's 11th place finish.

Elmore, however, saw many positives in the team's effort.

"If it wasn't for three of them, we wouldn't have been in the state championship last year," Elmore said. " They're good golfers, great kids and great students -- I'm thankful for them."