Golfers fare better at home
■ The Siloam Springs golf teams hosted three teams on Monday.
The familiarity of its home course proved to be a good thing Monday for the Siloam Springs boys golf team.
The Panthers shot their lowest scores of the season and finished second in a four-way nine-hole match at The Course at Sager’s Crossing.
“It was good to be back at our home course,” said Siloam Springs golf coach Michael Robertson. “We have been going pretty hard the last three weeks and it was nice for our kids to have a little bit shorter of a day and play at home. Nice to see the boys’ scores continuing to come down closer to where we need them.”
Springdale Har-Ber’s boys carded a team score of 153 with Siloam Springs shooting a 166 and Springdale 222. Alma had two individual boys participate but did not field a team score.
Chris Svebek led the Panthers with a round of 40, while Miles Perkins shot 41, Brayden Fain 42, Max Perkins 43 and Breck Soderquist 44.
“It was good to see Chris play well again,” Robertson said. “He looks more comfortable and is hitting the ball well. Miles played consistently today, kept the ball in play and was good around the green. Brayden, Max and Breck all played seven or eight solid holes. All of those guys are capable of going lower, so hopefully we continue cleaning up around the green, stay away from big numbers and find a guy or two who can dip into the 70s and have the rest of the team play solid around them.”
Har-Ber’s Luke Jewell shot a low round 34 for medalist, while Braden Sheperd shot 37, Carter
Combs 40, Logan Mayo 42 and James Schnoes 47.
Springdale’s Cedric Justus shot 45, followed by Brayden Hamilton 55, Andrew Lind 60, Will Ashmore 62 and Kameron Bowman 64.
Alma’s Blaine Chambers shot 41 with Tyson Sheperd shooting 48.
In junior varsity boys action for Siloam Springs, Owen Thomas
shot 41, Nick Driscoll 45, Reece Pinkerton 48, Johnny Graves 49, Ethan Owens 51, Nick Gray 52, Patrick Church 52, Cam Blackfox 53, Will Van Asche 54, Preston Moody and Jackson Doornbos each with 57.
“Owen and Nick Driscoll played really well today and are competing hard,” Robertson said. “We need to continue having good competition that pushes all of them.”
The Panthers were back in action Tuesday at the Springdale High Invitational at Springdale Country Club. Results were not available at presstime.
Girls
The Lady Panthers also played their first home match of the season with the same three teams.
Springdale Har-Ber fielded a team score of 120 to top Siloam Springs’ 153. Springdale and Alma only had one player each.
Emily Self led the Lady Panthers with a 48, while Julia Jackson shot 52, Brooke Smith 53 and Trang Phan and Kate Gryder each with 55.
“This is probably as much competition as we’ve had on our girls team,” Robertson said. “We have three or four of them who are all scoring very similar with all of them taking turns jumping each other. They all have worked really hard and it’s really fun to see the improvement from all our girls. We just really are still learning how to play.
“Brooke is hitting the ball well. The ball just launches off her club face in a way you don’t see often. She will continue to cut strokes with time. Kate, Trang, and Julia are improving at such a fast rate for girls who have not played much.”
Robertson said the key for the girls scoring well is to get at least one player’s 18-hole score in the upper 80s.
“We have girls playing consistently, but we need to post a low round,” he said. “There is no doubt that Emily is hitting the ball well enough to do that. She will keep working and get it figured out. She can score lower and isn’t that far off from doing it.”
Abbey Ott of Har-Ber was the medalist with a 34, while Macey Wyler shot 42, Lauren Milligan 44, Lana Duvall 45 and Claire Bowden 46.
Springdale’s Aubrey Justus and Alma’s Haley Jackson each shot 54.
In junior varsity action for Siloam Springs, Alyson McWilliams shot 57, while Mackenzie Sontag shot 65.
Up next
Both Siloam Springs teams return to action on Aug. 27 against Bentonville High at Bella Vista Country Club.