State tournament golf
Fayetteville players leap into the water hazard adjacent to the 10th green at Fayetteville Country Club after clinching the Bulldogs’ fifth consecutive boys golf state championship Wednesday. Fayetteville won by 10 strokes over Cabot. State tournament coverage,
FAYETTEVILLE — Scott Williams wasn’t getting wet again.
The Fayetteville boys golf coach had slogged through two soggy days while watching his team win a school-record fifth consecutive Class 7A boys state golf title Wednesday. To celebrate, the Bulldogs had decided to jump into a water hazard near the green on hole No. 10, just as they had done after winning this same event two years ago at Fayetteville Country Club.
They were quietly trying to figure out how to get Williams into the pond, too, but their coach wised up when his wife, Becky Williams, asked for his wallet and belt.
“Yeah, she tipped me off,” Williams said. “I am super glad that they got to celebrate that way because that means we’re champions again. I will support them like I do in everything, but most of those guys I’ve had since ninth-graders — they knew well enough not to push that too hard.”
Led by medalist Fisher Vollendorf’s two-day total of 138, all four Fayetteville golfers finished in the top nine in the individual standings. Cabot’s Connor Gaunt was runner-up with a 140, and Little Rock Catholic’s Scott Tabor came in third with a 143.
Vollendorf entered Wednesday tied with Gaunt for the lead at even par. The Fayetteville senior and University of Arkansas, Fayetteville commitment began his round with birdies on the first two holes, then shot par the rest of the way. After sinking his final putt, Vollendorf let out a scream before beginning a celebration with teammates, who were watching the 18th hole with several dozen spectators under umbrellas and a canopy of gray skies.
“Being able to putt out on 18 with all the Bulldogs sitting around me and having everyone watch, that’s something I’ll remember for a long time,” Vollendorf said. “It’s too cool because it’s something that no one else has ever done before. To win five in a row and to have it over with, it’s something that’s really, really special.”
Denver Davis and Jackson Cole each shot a 147 to finish tied for seventh place, while Palmer McSpadden was a stroke behind in ninth with a 148.
Davis, a junior who also is committed to the Razorbacks, said hitting a shot “to within 1 foot” of the hole before putting in for birdie on No. 6 “really got me going.”