Taylor Haltom of Ava finished just two strokes from par Monday to place first among all Class 2, District 5 golfers, while Liberty took first place as a team.
“I’m happy with how I struck the ball and satisfied with my ability to score,” said Haltom of his 74 finish. “I am very glad to get a win to carry some momentum into the sectional tournament. Hopefully I will be able to perform like I know I can and get the same result next Monday at Bill and Payne Stewart of Springfield.”
Haltom said he felt he played the front nine well, but had some trouble on the back nine. His two birdies and solid putting inside helped propel him eight strokes ahead of the second place golfer.
“I thought he had another great round of golf today,” said Haltom’s coach, Scott Payne. “He has won his last five tournaments, including first place in the SCA conference. He is playing with a lot of confidence and I look for him to advance deep in the state tournament.”
Liberty Coach Rob Brown said his team’s first place finish was redemptive after last year’s finish. “First, I’m proud of the kids,” he said. “This was a goal of theirs coming into spring. We finished runner-up a year ago and lost on the tie-breaking system, so today was nice.”
The Liberty team included Josh Pruett, Jordan McAfee, Mathew Coatney, and Matthew Price.
“We can play a lot better than we did today,” Coach Brown added. “Josh Pruett had a rough day, and he can shave several strokes off his score heading to sectionals. We will work on some stuff this week and head to Springfield next week and try to compete.”
The second place team, who will also advance to next week’s sectional round, was Mountain Grove, including Mac Gourley, Dustin Wilhite, Thomas Clifton, Tristen Foster, and Curtis Hale.
Team Scores (Top Two Advance to Sectional Play)
Liberty – 349
Mountain Grove – 379
Cuba – 380
Dixon – 381
Ava – 381
Hollister – 386
Licking – 406
Willow Springs – 408
Houston – 446
Individual Scores (Top 15 in Addition to Teams Advance to Sectional Play – Denoted with *)
*Taylor Haltom (Ava) – 74
Jordan McAfee (Liberty) – 82
Mathew Coatney (Liberty) – 83
*Hunter Mackenzie Beard (Hollister) – 84
*Jeffrey Norman (Dixon) – 86
*Domminic Ebber (Cuba) – 87
Matthew Price (Liberty) – 87
Mac Gourley (Mountain Grove) – 90
*Marquis Gantt (Dixon) – 90
*Kate Voss (Cuba) – 92
Thomas Clifton (Mountain Grove) – 93
*Ethan Graves (Willow Springs) – 94
*Colton Haefeker (Hollister) – 95
Josh Pruett (Liberty) – 97
*Titus Pickney (Ava) – 97
*Morgan Clements (Ava) – 97
Dustin Wilhite (Mountain Grove) – 97
*James Swan (Licking) – 98
*Clabe Sullins (Licking) – 99
*Eli Palmer (Cuba) – 99
Tristen Foster (Mountain Grove) – 99
*Colton Sullivan (Houston) – 100
*Seth Parker (Dixon) – 101
Gunnar Berger ( Conway) – 102
Devin Osborn (Willow Springs) – 102
Tome Voss (Cuba) – 102
Patrick Schultz (Hollister) – 102
Rhyen Romines (Licking) – 104
Dakota Fierce (Dixon) – 104
Ryan Cawvey (Willow Springs) – 105
Christopher Branstetter (Hollister) – 105
Nathan Wilson (Licking) – 105
Tayler Ward (Houston) – 105
Gage Kight (Cuba) – 106
Michael Cawvey (Willow Springs) -107
Cody Delcour (Conway) – 108
Bryan Caolvich (Hollister) – 110
Chance Clevenhagen (Ava) – 113
Curtis Hale (Mountain Grove) – 115
Thomas Smith (Houston) -118
Garrett Stuck (Forsyth) – 120
Craig Floyd (Houston) – 123
Gavin Barnhart (Dixon) – 126
Steven Briscoe (Licking) – 127
Gavin Graves (Willow Springs) – 143
