PLAS golf finishes regular season unbeaten
Published 9:19 pm Friday, April 15, 2011
Not since the 1970’s has a Pike Liberal Arts Golf Team gone undefeated in the regular season.
The 2011 Pike team can now be added to that short list as the Patriots won the final full field event of the year in Montgomery on Thursday by shooting a team score of 307, five shots better than runner-up Tuscaloosa Academy (312).
Lee Scott Academy finished third with a 313 followed by Macon East Academy a close fourth with a total score of 314.
Scoring conditions were great as Garret Berry, a 14 year old freshman from Macon East led all scorers with a 3 under par 69, 2 shots better than Lee Scott’s senior Will Clowdus, Pike senior Audie Stell, was next with an even par round of 72. Ben McKeller, also a senior, shot 75 for Pike followed by junior Stewart Pinckard who fired a 76 at the Tallapoosa Lakes Golf Club. Junior Will Sanford shot 84 while senior Martin Meeks carded an 85.
Pike finished the season with a perfect 6-0 record and now await the AISA State Championship to be held here in Troy on April 25th and 26th.
Six PLAS golfers have qualified to play in the state tournament. They are Ben McKeller, Stewart Pinckard, Audie Stell, Will Sanford, Martin Meeks and Marcus Stephens.
Pike will be trying to win their second State Golf Championship in three years and for seniors Ben McKeller and Audie Stell, this will be their sixth and final chance to bring home the state title.
Both golfers have been starters on the team since they were in the 7th grade and while they have played for Pike the Patriots have finished first in 2009, second in 2006, 2008 and 2010, and third in 2007. McKeller and Stell, along with junior Stewart Pinckard, will also be trying to join former Patriots, Bill Hamrick, Grant Gilbert and Chase Rogers, as the Individual State Champion when they tee it up in two weeks but they expect to see plenty of competition from Fort Dale’s Cam Norman who has the lowest scoring average in the state this year.
Lee Scott’s Will Clowdus will also be one of the favorites and one has to consider Macon East’s Garrett Berry a solid contender after this week’s performance.