Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bentonville finishes first at Red’Dog
SPRINGDALE — Bentonville High golf Coach Kent Early said when all his boys are playing well, they can be tough to beat.
That proved to be the case on Monday in the Arvest Red’Dog Invitational.
The Tigers had four players finish in the top 10 and recorded a team score of 294 to take first place overall at Springdale Country Club.
Zach Carter shot an evenpar 72 to lead Bentonville and teammates Spencer Trump and Landon McNitt both shot 1-over 73 and A.J. Martin shot a 76.
“Those are hard scores to beat,” Early said. “We’ll take as close to par as we can get. It’s tough to beat. I thought the kids had a great day.”
Early said there wasn’t a specific strategy for the Tigers when playing the course Monday.
“They just do what they do,” Early said. “They were on their own. They have a plan. They’ve played here before so they’re comfortable. This is the third year for Landon, Zach and A.J. to play, so they’ve been here before and they’re familiar.”
Rogers High finished second with a team score of 303, followed by Fayetteville with 309, Fort Smith Southside with 310 and Harrison with 321.
The Mounties, who were missing Jack Scudder, had the individual medalist in Cohen Kinnard, who carded a 3-under 69.
When asked what was working well for him, Kinnard said, “Just not putting myself in bad positions, Getting off the really well, making putts inside of five feet … It’s all clicking right now.”
Rogers Coach Marcus Alexander said he was impressed with Kinnard’s round.
“He’s got another gear even that he’s just starting to get a nudge about,” Alexander said. “We’re excited.”
The Mounties, who defeated Bentonville in a nine-hole match last week, were playing with three freshman on Monday.
“Deep team — a lot of the guys stepped up today,” Alexander said. “Started three freshmen today and all of them stepped up so we’re excited. We’re excited about the growth. We’re trying to figure out how we can better ourselves for the postseason.”
Defending state champion Fayetteville was without two of its top golfers Campbell Cox and Sam Patterson.
Fort Smith Southside’s Drew Hunter also shot 72 to finish tied for second place with Carter.
Five players — Springdale Har-Ber’s Logan Mayo, Fayetteville’s Connor Goens, Rogers’ Maddock Stephens and Bentonville’s Trump and McNitt — tied four fourth place at 73.