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Spartan Golfers Swing for the Green at Regionals

By Matthew Mankoff

    The regional golf tournament Tuesday afternoon at Deer Creek Golf Course would be the last tournament of the season for the Thomas Jefferson golfers unless they were able to qualify for state.  In order to qualify for the state tournament, a golfer must finish in the top four at regionals, which is no easy task.  The task became even harder for the Spartans, as it didn't take them long to realize how difficult the Deer Creek course was.  The course, covered with water and impenetrable rough, caused Spartan players headaches all day and resulted in 34 lost balls.  These costly mistakes left all of the TJ golfers with numerous penalty strokes and hindered the Spartans chances at qualifying for state.

    The Spartans best chance for a state qualifier came in junior Andrew Knoll who played consistently throughout the day and finished with a round of 91.  Knoll's effort was about six shots off the pace of the final state qualifier, whose qualifying round in the mid-80's demontrated the toughness of the Deer Creek course.  The leader of the Spartan team coming into today's tournament was senior Tyler Thornton, who had averaged a score of 79 throughout the season.  However, Thornton could only manage a 94 on this challenging golf course.  Although Thornton was able to continue his solid iron game, and smash shots off the tee (such as his 380 yard drive on the 18th hole), costly mistakes plagued the senior leader all day.  Thornton would go on to lose 12 balls on the day, which would become the theme for the entire Thomas Jefferson squad.  The same errors followed senior golfers Colin Freeland and John Jennings, who posted rounds of 102 and 108.  Thornton explained these untimely errors by stating, "Thats just how golf goes some times, you have your good days and your bad days."

     As a team the day did not turn out too bad for the Spartans.  The scores of Thornton, Knoll, Freeland, and Jennings gave Thomas Jefferson a final score of 395.  This placed the Spartans in the middle of the field as a team in what is a very difficult regional pairing that includes schools such as Kent Denver and Mullen.  Even though nobody was able to qualify for state, the TJ golfers refused to hang their heads.  "Overall we did not play as well as we could have, but we were competiive, so the day was not a disappointment," said Freeland.  Look for the Spartans again next year, as the team's top finisher in this years regionals, Andrew Knoll, will be back to lead the way for a whole new set of Spartans on the links.

Spartan Edition

Copyright © 2007 Thomas Jefferson Journal