[DarrenBent]

Writing my summary of todays tournament for parents and faculty, I was inspired to share here as well. I have had a lot of fabulous experiences coaching golf over the last 10 years, not all as the head coach, and today was another one of those fabulous experiences....

We participated in our fist large tournament of the season. Both teams, boy and girls, were poised to do well. Not only against teams in our division, but also against the larger schools from around the mid state.

Well... Lets just say that my boys have a lot of work to do. They scored well above their average, and was not even in contention after the 3rd hole. This was a learning experience for all in several ways. One ran out of balls and decided to accept one from another player in his group,,, Ugh... And one of my better players decided to let another moronic player in his group influence his behavior. Lets just say that tomorrows team meeting will be a good one.....

My girls team are the defending DII class A State Champions, and hope to repeat this year. We graduated the right hook of our 1-2 punch of last year, but we still have last years Individual Girls State Champion, complimented by two other good players. Repeating this year will be difficult, but my #1 is scoring low enough. The other two will have to score lifetime lows to give us a chance this Oct. 1st and 2nd.

Todays performance proved the last sentence. My #2 and #3 players came in with higher than expected scores. As a team we placed 4th in a field of 14 girls teams. Not bad, but nowhere near what we will need for top title. My #1 played very well today. She finished with a 73, tied for first against our rival schools #1 player. The ensuing playoff was the highlight of the day. On the first hole, both had excellent drives into a short par 4. My girl birdied, putting pressure on her opponent who had to make a 20ft put to continue the playoff. I felt like we had this, but the girl sank her putt and forced another hole. The next hole is another short par 4 and strong girls will drive the green with ease. My girl pushed her drive into the rough left of the green and her opponent came in hot and her ball skipped to the back fringe. Yes, I had my doubt that my #1 could get up and down to continue, but she is a good scrambler and has proved me wrong on a number of occasions. However her second shot came up short and opened the door even wider. Her opponent decided to put from the fringe. She had about 40ft for the win. She struck the ball and we all knew right away. It was magical, and it found the bottom of the cup. They went Birdie/Birdie - Eagle for the win. What a finish! I wish that my girl would have come out on top, but I could not be happier. (I know and love the other girl and her parents).
They will meet again, just like they have for the last 4 years - both are now Seniors. It has been a great rivalry and I am looking forward to see how they compete at the Regional and hopefully the State Tournament..