The Pilot Point Bearcats and Lady Cats golf teams hit their Sunday best at the 3A Region 2 District 10 District Golf Tournament, with both teams finishing in the Top 5 at their respective district tournaments.
The Lady Cats opened district tournament play at the Tanglewood Golf Course on March 26, while the Bearcats played their opening round at Gainesville Municipal Golf Course on March 30, with both teams finishing their tournaments at Decatur Golf Club on March 31 and April 1.
“Overall, I was pleased with both teams,” said Rick Baker, Pilot Point head golf coach. “The ladies came out and fought hard, and we know next year is going to be a different story for them. The boys team played well in the first round, and I was pleased with the scores, but they came out hungry in the second round. … They may not have hit well on a hole or two, but they kept clawing back. We went from tied for last after Day 1 to missing third-place medals by four strokes.”
The Bearcats were represented by Hank David, Kipton Goodin, William Baker, Anthony Torres and Caden David, with Hank and Kipton finishing as the team’s top performers.
Hank finished the two-day event with a total score of 143, taking first place at the event.
“I was pretty upset that I got third at district last year, so I had this goal in the back of my mind and said, ‘We’re going to win this next year,’” he said. “… Last year I felt like I didn’t give it my all at the end, and this year I was really able to stay focused mentally. I had a pretty rough start, but I was able to get it back at the end.”
Goodin finished with a twoday total of 156, placing fifth overall and being the tournament’s second individual medal recipient.
“Last year I was like 90th, so over the summer I worked really hard to get better and focused on where I needed to improve,” he said. “This year, I came into the tournament confident that I was going to do well and could win, and it was really fun. It was challenging to go against really good players like Hank, but I proved that I could compete with them.”
Lillie Kirby, Adisyn Johnson, Karsyn Johnson, Katy Delgado, Emerson Hite, Khloe Segura and Brooklyn Lee powered the Lady Cats’ fourthplace finish, with Kirby and Adisyn finishing as the team’s top performers.
Kirby completed the event with a two-day total of 198, placing 11th overall.
Adisyn finished the tournament with a score of 200, placing 12th overall.
Kirby shared her pride at what the Lady Cats accomplished this season.
“Golf is a very mental game, and we had to learn if you shoot one bad shot, that can’t determine the rest of your game,” she said. “It took a little bit for us to understand that, but once we got closer to district it clicked and everyone was having fun.”
Hank and Goodin are scheduled to take part in the 3A Region 2 Regional Tournament on Monday and Tuesday hosted at the Oak Hurst Golf Course in Bullard.
