The Yellowjackets varsity golf team shot the best cumulative score in the Lebanon Golf Tournament on Monday, while West Plains’ Dylan White won the individual title. Lebanon shot 306 as a team.
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White, the senior and Southwest Christian University commit, scored a 71 on the day which is three strokes better than the next best score. He shot a 36 on the front-nine and 35 on the back-nine with five birdies and four bogies, finishing one shot under par on the day.
“I hit the ball great off the tee,” said White. “[The course] is pretty wide open. You can get yourself into some trouble on the front, but for the most part, there’s not a whole lot of trouble. It’s a pretty easy course.”
White’s round helped West Plains claim second place as a team with a 317. Dixon came in third place with 370 led by Jeff Narman’s 77.
Lebanon’s Jack Ehrhardt shot the second-best individual score with a 74. Lawerence Bowlin shot a 76, Cooper Hess and Harrison Carr chipped in with 78’s, and Tryn Titus finished with 79.
“I saw good stuff, I saw good things from them,” said Lebanon coach Rod Sullens. “Anytime you can have a team score and all five of your guys are in the 70’s, that’s what we’re gunning for this year. So I’m really proud of how they played today.”
Sullens says that playing at home can actually be an impediment, but he liked how his team responded.
“I think it hurts to play on your home course because there’s added pressure and expectations on your home course,” he said. “I’ve never really been a fan. I mean, we like playing at home of course, but I just think there’s more pressure playing at home. When some of your local people can come and watch it puts pressure on you.”
Nearly all of the teams in Monday’s tournament will compete at the MSU Relays on Thursday, March 31. Dylan White and West Plains will look to build off of the success in Lebanon.
“I just want to win as much as possible,” White said. “That’s the goal: try and win every time I tee it up. For sure be in the top three or top five and medal everywhere I play. That’s the goal.”
The Lebanon program is excited with the talent they have on the varsity team this season. Coach Sullens has high expectations for his squad.
“This is a pretty nice group,” Sullens admitted. “They’re a competitive group to say one thing. The other thing that I can say is they have the ability to play the game, so it’s been a while since Lebanon could put together a team like this.
“We like shooting good scores and being successful, but we’re all just preparing for conference and districts. Their expectations are pretty high, as well I think they should be. I don’t think it’s an accident that they shot a 306 today, so we’ll see how it plays out. If we can keep our heads on straight and focused on the game and do the things we’re supposed to do, I think we’ll be fine.”
