Season previews
SSHS golf teams ready to compete
Coming off a 6A-West Conference championship and with nearly every player returning from last year, expectations are high in 2017 for the Siloam Springs girls golf team.
The Lady Panthers return their top three scorers from a year ago, including all-state senior Brinkley Beever, from a team that finished fourth overall in the state.
“We’ve never returned our top three scorers from state,” said Lady Panthers head coach Michael Robertson. “This will be the first time we’ve done that. We add to them some girls that played throughout last season and had moments of playing really well.”
The season begins at 8 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, in the Springdale Invitational at Springdale Country Club.
Of the 10 players on the roster, Beever is the team’s only senior and a four-year starter.
Beever is coming off another busy summer on the golf course. She recently was one of 12 girls selected to attend the First Tee College Golf Prep Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla.
She also was involved in the LPGA’s NW Arkansas Walmart Open held in June at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers.
Beever also was one of 33 girls selected to play in the Pure Insurance Championship Pro/AM at Pebble Beach on Sept. 19-25.
Beever finished third in the state tournament last year.
“When you have a really talented player, even just one, you’ve always got a chance on the girls side,” Robertson said. “Brinkley returns as the first girl we’ve had to be a top three individual as a junior. Individually she comes in having a lot of accomplishments at the high school level. It’s been a busy summer, but summers are always busy. She’s filled it with a lot of golf.”
Robertson said the Lady Panthers are hoping for a good year from Beever, who is a four-year
varsity player.
“It starts with her,” he said. “I think she’s got all the talent, length, skill and course management to put up low numbers and have a really good high school season.”
Behind Beever in the Lady Panthers’ rotation is junior Mackenzie Blanchard, who is coming off an all-conference sophomore season.
“We probably don’t win the conference championship without her opening day score,” Robertson said of Blanchard. “She played really well. She has really looked good in the offseason, hitting it long and hitting it well. She’s another, like Brinkley, who has had a busy summer. She’s one that I think will have a really good season and finish well.”
Junior Kaitlyn Robinson played in Siloam Springs’ third spot most of last season. She finished a couple of strokes short of an all-conference selection last year.
“She’s another that had a really good spring and offseason,” Robertson said. “She played in tournaments this summer. She has some natural length and is really strong. She does some things that not all girls are able to do at the high school level.
Juniors Kendall McCormick and Jaelee Snyder have both played well in the offseason and made golf a priority, Robertson said.
“At any moment, any of those two can be in our top two to three scorers,” he said. “We will have a true team of five varsity girls where any one of them can be in the top three. That gives you flexibility and takes a lot of pressure off of all the girls.
“Competition is pushing all of them to be better. I told them today, those girls have really stood out from others. It’s going to be a deal where it’s whoever is playing best at times. Seen some really good things out of Kendall and Jaelee and I think its going to make our team better.”
Freshman Makenna Thomas could also be playing for varsity time. She’s played a lot of golf through the First Tee. She’s one of three freshmen on the team with Katie Stout and Clara Butler.
Sophomores on the roster are Kendi Williamson and Ella Zaidner.
“Some of them have played a little bit,” Robertson said. “They’re working hard. It’ll be a really good season to get some JV experience and
Competition is pushing all of them to be better. I told them today, those girls have really stood out from others. It’s going to be a deal where it’s whoever is playing best at times.
get better in low pressure situations.”
The Class 6A Girls State Golf Tournament is scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at Big Creek Golf and Athletic Club in Mountain Home. The Lady Panthers will get a chance to play at Big Creek on Aug. 7-8 in the annual Mountain Home Bomber Invitational.
“It’s a really long golf course and fairly open in a lot of parts,” Robertson said. “I think that really could play well for us as we kick off our season and end our season.”
Jonesboro is the defending state champion and should be in contention along with Searcy and Mountain Home, which finished ahead of Siloam Springs a year ago. Greenwood will also be in the mix as well.
“(Class) 6A golf is so tough,” Robertson said. “We have a good chance to have a really good season.
“The thing that’s exciting
about the girls, they’re all really, really good kids but they’re super smart. On top of having a chance to win a state championship, I think there’s an opportunity to win an academic one, too. They get along. They come to practice every day and work hard. We really have a good sense of the team. I think they’re really excited.”
Michael Robertson SSHS golf coach