The Apaches won the 54-hole regional tournament on a rainy Tuesday at Oak Hurst Golf Course, but rival Lon Morris took home the first-place trophy. The men's regional champion and medalists are determined by six rounds -- the first three from the Texas Junior College Championships held April 6-7 in Granbury.

In the two-team women's regional, which comprised 54 holes, TJC defeated Texarkana by 44 strokes for the title. Whitney Flewellen, Alexis Byerly and Jacqueline Lujan finished among the medalist leaders.

 

 

The Apaches trailed Lon Morris by 16 strokes after the state tournament and then made up only two shots on the Bearcats (886-888) the last two days.

TJC, the third-ranked team in NJCAA Division II, considers the win at Oak Hurst over No. 1 Division I Lon Morris a nice consolation prize.

"I think it's only the second time where the regional champion did not win the regional tournament," said TJC head coach Sandy Terry, whose team will next compete in the Division II national tournament May 19-22.

The top two golfers in the field proved the importance of each shot, even in a 108-hole tournament.

TJC's Cody Blankenship got up and down from the right-side bunker on No. 18 to force a playoff for medalist honors. He fired a 1-under 71 in the final round and made four birdies, but lost the playoff on the first hole to Wesley Worster of Lon Morris.

"I was nervous about getting up and down because I was afraid that might be the score to turn in to get to a playoff, or win," said Blankenship, who birdied the difficult 10th hole. "I had just parred 8 and 9 when the rain started hitting. I turned at even (par), so I was hoping to get some momentum on the back nine. I birdied 10 and that got me going for the rest of the round."

Worster, a sophomore from South Africa, eagled the first playoff hole -- the par-5 No. 1. His second shot landed about a foot from the pin and then backed up to leave a four-foot putt.

"The last three or four tournaments, I've been knocking on the door and to finally get the win is a good feeling," said Worster, who closed with a tournament-best 68.

TJC's James Glenn, a freshman from South Carolina, posted only the third red number of the day with a 71 to match his teammate.

"My goal coming into today was just try and get myself to even (par) for the total of the three rounds," Glenn said. "But other than that, just not let any more damage happen. My first two rounds, I played a lot better than my score indicates. My goal today was to have my score actually indicate how well I played."

Glenn, who played in steady rain from Nos. 9-15, finished the round with three birdies -- all on the front.

"I just really tried to keep my head down and plod along," Glenn said. "I didn't try to do anything too spectacular, I just played smart."

On second thought, he said his best shot was a 40-yard pitch from the other side of the cart path to about three feet of the pin for an up-and-down on No. 17.

"I aim between the right side of the green and the cart path and try to draw it back onto the green," explained Glenn of the par-3 hole with water fronting the middle and left of the green. "It didn't draw. It ricocheted off the Lon Morris coach's cart."

In other TJC results on Oak Hurst: Overton's Blaine Weiterman shot a 54-hole total of 223; Cody Bass shot 227 and Lindale's Jared Johnson finished at 231.

"It's been a really good year," said Terry, who returns three players off last year's national championship team. "I think we're just now really beginning to gel and play a little better. I'm kind of excited about our chances at the national tournament."

 

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Region XIV Golf Championships

Note:

Score in parenthesis is total from first three rounds at Harbor Lakes GC in Granbury. Final three rounds Monday-Tuesday played at Oak Hurst Golf Course in Bullard.

Final Results

Men

Team Standings -- 1, Lon Morris, (908)-303-291-294 -- 1796; 2, Tyler (924)-296-298-292 -- 1810; 3, Paris, (953)-311-308-301 -- 1873; 4, Texarkana, (990)-322-310-306 -- 1928.

Medalists

-- *1, Wesley Worster, Lon Morris, 77-74-75-77-76-68 -- 447; 2, Cody Blankenship, Tyler, 76-77-74-75-74-71 -- 447; 3, Jaime Garcia, Lon Morris, 74-79-77-74-70-74 -- 448; 4, (tie) Jason Timmis, Paris, 79-70-83-77-72-72 -- 453; Mikiel Tchobanian, Lon Morris, 76-76-77-78-71-75 -- 453.

*won playoff

TEAMS

LON MORRIS (other)

-- Jason Hamilton, 80-79-70-74-74-79 -- 456; James Searson, 83-81-71-79-76-77 -- 467.

TYLER (other) -- Blaine Weiterman, 80-77-77-74-74-75 -- 457; James Glenn, Tyler, 88-76-78-72-74-71 -- 459; Cody Bass, 81-79-75-75-77-75 -- 462; Jared Johnson, 81-88-71-76-76-79 -- 471.

PARIS (other)

-- Thomas Bourne, 81-78-7879-78-73 -- 467; Preston Spoonemore, 86-88-74-73-78-75 -- 474; Kevin Geisbrecht, 78-82-86-82-83-81 -- 492; Jay Ryan (Oak Hurst only), 311-308-301 -- 920.

TEXARKANA

-- Chris Becker, 81-82-78-76-75-77 -- 469; Britt Ritter, 83-85-82-81-75-78 -- 484; Johan Swanpoel, 86-83-84-82-77-72 -- 484; Travis Christzberg, 85-79-85-83-83-79 -- 494; Tanner Martin (Oak Hurst only), 86-86-84 -- 256.

Women

Team Standings

-- 1, Tyler, 354-347-337 -- 1038; 2, Texarkana, 363-368-351 -- 1082.

Medalists -- 1, Anezel Zylstra, Texarkana, 83-84-79 -- 246; 2, (tie) Taylor Scott, Texarkana, 87-86-81 -- 254; Whitney Flewellen, Tyler, 90-80-84 -- 254; 4, Alexis Byerly, Tyler, 86-85-85 -- 256; 5, Jacqueline Lujan, Tyler, 85-92-81 -- 258.

TEAMS

TYLER (other)

-- Xeniya Zheleznova, 94-90-87 -- 271; Courtney Hodgkins, 93-98-87 -- 278.

TEXARKANA (other) -- Andrea Ramirez, 93-100-91 -- 284; Cortney Berryhill, 100-102-109 -- 311; Alex Sizemore, 113-98-100 -- 311.

Article Courtesty of Tyler Morning Telegraph