Ada golfers steady at state

Jeff Cali Sports Editor

Ardmore May 13, 2008 12:56 pm

— The Ada High School golf team saved its best for last.
Ada’s five entries into the Class 5A State Tournament produced 14 of 15 scores lower than 80 and that resulted in a strong fourth-place showing during the two-day, three-round event held last week at the Dornick Hills Country Club in Ardmore.
Ada’s three round total score of 919 was 10 shots better than Bixby’s 929. The Cougars also finished ahead of the likes of Carl Albert and Bishop Kelley.
“I was really proud of the kids. They played well. That’s the best we’ve done by a lot. To do that at the state tournament is something I was really proud of,” said first-year Ada head coach Robbie Powell.
The Cougars showed steady improvement throughout the course of the 2008 spring season, especially during their final three tournaments.
“They improved a little bit each week. That’s what you hope to accomplish, to be playing your best at the end,” Powell said. “My only wish is that maybe we had another week.”
As expected, host Ardmore ran away with the team state title, finishing with a score of 854. Duncan was a distant second at 881 while Deer Creek placed third at 893.
Powell had preached to his team all year about getting mentally tougher heading into the postseason.
“Early in the season we were making a lot of mistakes and letting little things distract us. We had gotten a lot better at that — letting things go and going on and playing and staying hooked up and concentrating on what was going on at the time instead of worrying about what had happened earlier in the day,” he said.
Powell knew his team had what it takes to be a force in Class 5A.
“That’s something that if you had asked me at the beginning of the year, I thought we had the ability to do. I didn’t know mentally if we could do it,” he said.
Leading the Cougars charge was sophomore Chris Sweeney, who shot a 227 that included a team-low 72 during the second round.
“Chris Sweeney played exceptionally well this week. He just struck the ball well,” Powell said. “He didn’t do anything necessarily spectacular, he just kept the ball in play and got the ball up and down when he needed to.”
Sweeney was in contention for a top 10 finish after posting a 148 after two rounds but faded down the list with a 79 in his final round.
“He very easily could have finished in the top 10, but let the last five holes of the tournament get away from him a little bit. He was kind of disappointed in that last round,” Powell said of the talented underclassman. “We had a talk after the state tournament, and I told him he’s one I really truly feel like could compete for an individual state championship. He has that kind of ability. If he’ll get out and work he’s got an opportunity to be really good.”
Taylor Gooch of Carl Albert won the state medalist title with a 68-67-72—207 while Ryan Smith of Ardmore was next at 68-72-69—209.
Junior Josh Belcher was next for Ada with a 230 while senior Tommy Sovereign followed at 233. Senior Kris Lowry and junior Alex Long were close behind with scores of 234 and 235.
The Cougars will miss regulars Sovereign and Lowry, but have a great nucleus returning for the 2009 season.
“I really think we’re going to be a strong team next year. One of the things that helped us out this year is the fact I had seven kids battling every week to qualify. Seven of our 10 were just neck and neck all year long,” Powell said.
Along with the five players that competed at state, sophomores Adam Gourley and Will Robson have also shown improvement throughout the spring.
“With the exception of Tommy Sovereign, who had kind of separated himself a little bit, from my second man through my seventh man there was only 1.2 strokes difference. When you have to work that hard to qualify to go to a tournament, when you get there, you are going to be used to the competition,” Powell said. “I’ve got some kids that have some tournament experience and that will really benefit us next year. We should be able to compete with what we have coming back and what these other kids are losing.”

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