North Point’s Davis shoots low round at district golf tournament
North Point’s Davis shoots low round at district golf tourney; La Plata, St. Charles’ Spann off to state tournament, too
As she wrapped up her round at the District IV golf tournament at Breton Bay Golf and Country Club in Leonardtown on Monday afternoon, North Point’s Bailey Davis was not exactly in a celebratory mood.
It wasn’t that Davis, the defending Class 4A-3A girls state champion golfer, shot poorly. She shot a 1-under-par 71 to come in with the lowest round of the tournament and qualify for this year’s state tournament. It just could have been a little better.
“I really wasn’t too happy with my round today. I played well, but my putting was terrible,” she said. “I could have had at least four more birdies. I three-putted, I think once. That really shouldn’t have happened. I was kind of upset about my round, but I’m happy. I shot 1-under and I’m happy with that, but I still know I could have played better.”
While Davis carded the lowest round of the day, spots two through four belonged to Northern golfers. Paced by Elizabeth Coffren’s 72, the Patriots came in with a team score of 315 to produce the best team mark of the day to qualify for the 4A-3A state gathering. Northern’s 315 easily beat the rest of the competition. La Plata, which qualified for the state tournament as the district’s top 2A-1A squad, put up the nextbest score of 361, 46 strokes behind the Patriots.
In addition to Northern, which will take four golfers and compete as a team, and
Davis, La Plata’s Gavin Ganter (78) and Zach Spann (80) of St. Charles qualified for the tournament, with Spann becoming the first Spartans golfer to ever qualify for states.
The state tournament is scheduled to start with the 4A-3A semifinal round on Monday at the University of Maryland in College Park. The 2A-1A semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, with the final round wrapping up the high school season on Wednesday.
Taking the whole team to states has been a regular occurrence for the Patriots, but still is not something that Northern head coach Mickey Norfolk takes for granted.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “Our first goal every year is always to make the state tournament. To win the district and make states is nice.”
Eddie Coffren finished two strokes behind his sister after carding a 74, while Johnna Parlett put up a 77. Andrew Younkers rounded out Northern’s top four scores with a 92.
Elizabeth Coffren had been playing well of late, evident in her placement at the Maryland Women’s Open at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace on Oct. 8 and 9 where she finished as the low amateur. The strong play carried over to the district tournament, where she led her team to another trip to the state tourney.
“I felt really good,” she said. “I made a lot of great putts out there and had a lot of good chip shots. My short game was really good today.”
“I’m real proud of the Coffren kids,” Norfolk added. “We kind of joke that Eddie has to wear the dress now because his sister beat him by two shots, but heck of a round for her, even par. She won the low women amateur at Bulle Rock last week. And Eddie, they’re just consistent, and to see Johnna at 77 is just awesome.”
While Northern’s players will be looking to post low numbers for both themselves, individually, and the team, Davis has her sights set on making a run at repeating as a state champion. As a freshman a year ago she shot a tworound total of 146 to win by three strokes.
“I’m excited for states,” she said. “Obviously I want to win again, but I feel like if I know I’ve played well then I’m happy with that. I want to go into states shooting under par, but if I come up short, that’s OK.”
Leonardtown was tops in St. Mary’s County, scoring a combined 375 to finish third overall. The Raiders’ top golfers were Ryan Sohne (86) and Ryan Ahern (87). Chopticon was seventh (411), led by Cameron Clarke (95). Great Mills was ninth (472), led by Connor Eagan (99).