By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Fifty golfers and nine teams tried to qualify for the Missouri Class 4 State tournament at the Sectional on Monday at Rivercut in Springfield. The top two teams and the top twelve individual scorers would qualify for the State competition.
Glendale took home the Sectional with a team score of 309, with sophomore Dawson Meek leading the way with a 72. Meek shot par on the day, to be closely followed by teammate Logan Ogden’s 73. Glendale won the team title by 19 strokes over Jefferson City. Rounding out the scorers for Glendale were Conner Obert with a 78 and Jonathon Dixon with an 86.
“Today started off rough, doubled my first hole, but I kinda got it back together on the back nine,” said Meek. “I just took it one shot at a time and played well at the end. My driving was the best part of the game; I didn’t really miss very many. I am going to continue to work on staying in the moment, not getting too ahead of myself, and making sure that I don’t make any bad mistakes, if possible.”
Today was a perfect day for golf and Glendale coach Chris Obert was pleased was his team’s results.
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“The boys played really well, they are kinda coming into their own right now,” said Coach Obert. “We’ve been playing a little bit better the last few weeks, through districts. We shot 311 at Districts and today we shot 309, really put it together. The guys, they drove the ball well, and took advantage of the opportunities of getting it up and down a lot around the greens today. The weather was absolutely perfect out here, the wind was non-existent.”
One of the first finishers on the day was Camdenton sophomore Spencer Melville. Sitting on the score of 83, he was just hoping to make the cut. He had a nerve-wracking afternoon sweating it out as he awaited the final scores to be posted. He was relieved when he saw he had made the cut.
“I was just hoping for the best, honestly,” said Melville. “Today I wasn’t hitting very good tee shots. Around the green was a little rough. I had a little rough patch from holes three through six, and then I figured it out. Then I just kept playing as hard as I could. If I didn’t make it, I’m only a sophomore so I’ve got two more years, but I’m glad I’m in. I’m going to go up there Monday and Tuesday and try my hardest.”
When asked about his team’s chances at the State tournament, Glendale coach Obert was cautiously optimistic.
“We take things one shot at a time, we don’t look too far ahead of ourselves,” said Obert. “You’ve got to take care of what’s in front of you at that moment in time so there’s no reason to look too far ahead. Going into it, each person will do it one shot at a time and do the best that they can on each shot. Then we’ll add them up at the end and see what our chances are.”
The Class 4 State Tournament will be held at Swope Park in Kansas City on Monday and Tuesday, May 14-15.
