Published: April 14, 2009 10:55 pm      

’Cat golf keeps regional streak

Woodard top medalist, PHS takes second

Staff Reports



JACKSONVILLE — One streak came to an end for the Palestine golf team, but another stayed alive.

Palestine finished second in the District 20-3A golf tournament Monday at the Woods in Jacksonville. The second-place finish broke a streak of nine straight district golf titles for Palestine, but the Wildcats advance to regionals for the 10th straight year.

The Class 3A-Region III tournament will be at the Brenham Country Club Wednesday and Thursday.

Palestine entered the second round of district with a slight second place lead over Crockett. The Wildcats finished the second day with a 363 and had a two-day total of 723, topping Crockett by 21 strokes.

“We came into Monday’s round knowing what we had to do to advance to Brenham,” Palestine golf coach Michael Dear said. “We had a great week of practice and we had some confidence because we have scored well at Jacksonville this year.”

Brownsboro won the district title with a two-day total of 699.

Palestine’s Kyle Woodard had the round of the two-day tournament. The Palestine senior shot a 76 Monday, the low round of the tournament, to overcome a deficit and win the district title as an individual. Woodard finished with a 159, winning by four strokes over Brownsboro’s Trey Volentine.

“All day long, Kyle was focused and in the zone,” Dear said. “He knew what he had to do and he worked hard to achieve his goal of winning the tournament.

“He has been very solid all year and his score is one the we have really depended on.”

The rest of the Palestine golfers who helped the Wildcats reach the regional tournament were Garrett Johnson (95-90-185); Zach Williams (94-87-181); Chris Scarborough (88-111-199) and Daniel Hinson (108-110-218).

The Westwood golf team also had a player qualify for the regional tournament.

Bryce Lyman finished fifth overall as he shot a 90 Monday for a two-day total of 176.

As a team, Westwood finished fourth with a 757 (370-387). The other Westwood golfers were Dylan Hightower, who had a 180 (89-91); Jordan Howell carded a 192 (94-98); Jay Russell shot a 209 (101-108) and Zach Britton had a 283 (146-137).