Rams finish second at 5A golf championships

Lakeside finished as the runner-up at Monday’s Class 5A State Golf Tournament at Glenwood Country Club after one of the Rams golfers was disqualified for signing his card with an incorrect score.

Lakeside’s Wil Griffin had the wrong score on his card when he signed it and turned it in to officials at the clubhouse at the end of his round. The Rams would have claimed their first state title since 2014 after back-to-back runner-up trophies, but the loss of Griffin’s card forced the team to rely on its fifth golfer which took the team from an 11-stroke lead to a

13-stroke deficit for second. Jonesboro shot a 320 for the win with Lakeside following with a 333. Little Rock Christian was third with a 336, Greenwood was fourth with a 346, and Benton was fifth with a 347. Mountain Home shot a 351, Searcy 360, El Dorado 369, Alma 383, Sylvan Hills 396, White Hall

430 and Maumelle 433.

Paragould’s Simon McBride earned medalist honors with a 5-under 67 on a course that was very wet after heavy rains on Sunday with high winds in Monday’s state tournament. Lakeside’s Cooper Gordon and Jonesboro’s Ben Sherman both shot a 3-under 72, and Gordon won the playoff to earn the runner-up medalist award. The top three golfers will play in the overall state tournament next Wednesday at Pleasant Valley Country Club.

“It was pretty windy and had rained about an inch and three quarters the night before down there, so scoring was a little hard to come by,” said Lake Hamilton head coach Brandi Higginbotham.

Carson Garner shot a 75 for the Wolves, Graham Dolan added an 86, and Hunter Little finished with a 100 to round out the team’s scoring.

“I am very proud of this team and how they have progressed over the season,” said Lakeside coach Kirsten Garner. “We should have won the state tournament by 11 shots without the mistake, so I can’t be too upset with the outcome of runner-up. The boys played great with three rounds in the 70s and one in the 80s. I am excited to see how we do in the state tournament next year.”

Lake Hamilton’s Cade Robinson shot an 88 while Peyton Garner finished with a 123, and Hot Springs’ Cade Miller shot a 116.

“I thought he had a good day,” Higginbotham said. “Being in the 80s, I was very happy with him. And then Peyton Garner, he’s the other one. He had just qualified at conference but had only played two matches in August because he’s the one that had the injury. He kind of struggled yesterday, which is understandable considering he really hasn’t practiced very much. He just had a really good day at conference, squeaked in in that third spot.”

Hot Springs coach Josh Smith was pleased with Miller’s performance at the tournament.

“Yesterday was tough,” he said. “The wind was blowing a little harder than what we’ve seen all year. … Just to experience that for a ninth grader is huge, and he’s worked his tail off this year. He’s playing every day. He’s either with us or in the Village with his dad, and he’s spending a lot of time at it. I was just happy for him get to have that experience as a ninth grader.”