Brookstone boys golf takes 2nd, girls 3rd in state tournaments

Brooktone boys golf coach Hunter Chapman said his players were hyped up after the first round of the Class 1A Private golf tournament Monday and would have gone ahead and played the second round if they could have.

Unfortunately for Brookstone, that would have been the Cougars’ best bet at defending their state title.

The second round of the boys and girls golf tournament at Green Island Country Club was canceled Tuesday due to inclement weather. As a result, the Brookstone boys finished second, while the Brookstone girls finished third against their counterparts.

The Cougars finished nine strokes behind First Presbyterian Day. The Lady Cougars, meanwhile, were seven strokes behind first-place Wesleyan.

“It’s very frustrating,” Chapman said. “I’m definitely heartbroken. I was dying to play, and I know they were, too. It’s obviously the right call with the course soaked to the bone, but we knew we could (come back). We wanted to make it happen.”

Chapman explained the logistics of the tournament prevented the second round from being rescheduled.

Green Island Country Club had practically rolled out the red carpet in its hosting of the two-day event, but with a different tournament scheduled for Wednesday, there was no way it could be moved to then. Add in the close to the school year for many schools plus travel and hotel accomodations for all the teams, and it was apparent that Tuesday was now or never for the final round.

Part of Chapman’s frustration stems from the Cougars’ strong end to the opening round. After showing some nerves to begin the tournament, several of the Brookstone boys came into their own as the day wore on. Walker Hinds, whose 71 was the top score on the team, birdied two of his last three holes. Frank Waldrep finished 1-under-par on his last six holes, while William Reaves was even on his last six holes.

“The finish was exciting, no doubt about it,” Chapman said. “We finished really strong, so that’s where we felt like we had a lot of momentum.”

Brookstone girls golf coach Karen Hearn shared her disappointment in the weather and the unavoidable decision to cancel the second round.

“It is very frustrating in that the girls finished their first round and did a great job, but I know they know some holes where they could have shaved their strokes down,” Hearn said. “I think they would have looked forward to coming out and getting a better score on the second day.”

At the same time, Hearn reveled in how far the Lady Cougars have come. Two years ago, Uma Alappan had been the only Brookstone student interested in playing golf. After the number of golfers grew, the team failed to make it to the state tournament in 2016.

“To go from that to a third-place team is very exciting,” Hearn said.

Top 5 boys standings

Top 5 girls standings

This story was originally published May 23, 2017 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Brookstone boys golf takes 2nd, girls 3rd in state tournaments."