High school golf reached the peak of its season with the UIL State Golf Tournaments being held last week, and the Ranch Cities’ two representatives, Zander Zafar of Tioga and Hank David of Pilot Point, teed it high and let fly, with both finishing in the Top 5 of their respective tournaments Monday and Tuesday.
Zafar finished first out of 72 competitors at Lions Municipal Golf Course, capping his senior season as the UIL 2A State Champion.
“Zander played the best golf that I’ve seen him play in the two years that I have been a coach at Tioga,” Tioga head golf coach Ragan Smith said. “He was relaxed and finished four under [par] for Day 1 and three under today, and we were told he set a state record for the lowest score [in 2A] over two days of the tournament. … He was playing out of his mind.”
In his third appearance at the state tournament, Zafar completed the first day of competition with a score of 67 and completed Day 2 with a score of 68 for a two-day total of 135.
“Every ball was good, and they went where I wanted them,” he said. “… I’ve worked really hard, so this win means a lot.”
Not only did Zafar walk away as the 2A State Champion, but his score of 135 set a new state record for lowest individual final score in 2A State Tournament history, breaking the record of 136 set by Rick Frauenberger in 2018.
He made sure to thank his coaches for their help and support this season.
“I’m genuinely very proud of him, especially after last year didn’t go the way he wanted,” Smith said. “This year, he just stepped up, stayed calm with any adversity he faced, and played incredibly well. If you looked at him, you’d never know he was nervous; he played so well, and with it being his senior year, I don’t know that it could have ended better.”
Pilot Point golfer David placed fourth out of 72 competitors at Jimmy Clay Golf Course, capping his senior season with back-to-back Top 5 finishes.
“Overall, the tournament went well,” Pilot Point head golf coach Rick Baker said. “Hank had a solid round yesterday, and today’s round was fantastic. He came out with a hole-in-one on the second hole, which was a really good play, but it was a solid tournament overall.”
In his second time on the big stage, David completed the first day of competition with a score of 74 and finished the second day with a score of 70 for a two-day total of 144.
“I would have loved to win it, but fourth place is not bad too—can’t ask for much more,” David said. “If you would have told me that prior to going to State, I would have been like, ‘Yeah, I’ll take that,’ so overall, I’m really happy with my performance.”
David found himself sitting near the bottom of the Top 10 after Day 1, but his play on Day 2 pushed him into the Top 5, missing third place by two strokes.
“I shot 31 on the front 500, so that really helped, and I think I jumped all the way into second place with that,” he said. “I wasn’t keeping track of it during the round because I try not to worry about that while I’m playing, but I didn’t have my best stuff on the back, but I was still able to get that Top 5 finish, which was nice.”
David thanked his coaches Baker and Jeff Christie for their help and support this season.
“They’ve both been here since the start of the season, and they’ve both been helping the whole team out every day,” he said.
Baker also shared the program’s appreciation for the David family and Pilot Point’s administration and said he enjoyed working with David this season.
“Setting the pace for our young program was super important for me, and that was made very easy by having Hank be a leader on the course as well as in the practices,” Baker said. “… It was a phenomenal year, and to cap it off with a hole-inone in the second round of State is pretty phenomenal.”
