2018 Year in Review – Prep Golf

As 2018 draws to a close, Thunder Radio Sports looks back at some of the highlights of the calendar year for each of the more than 40 prep teams we follow and report on. Today we look back at some of the highlights of year for the golf teams at Coffee County CHS and Coffee County and Westwood middle schools.

The Coffee County CHS team had the best finish of the year among TSSAA teams at the high school with a 3^rd place finish in the state tournament. Thunder Radio reported on their amazing performance in a story we brought to you on September 28^th.

Austin Farris with his 3rd place medal on Wednesday[Photo provided]

Excessive rains and unplayable conditions at Willowbrook on Wednesday forced the cancellation of the final round of the TSSAA State Tournament. Per TSSAA rules, the final results of the tournament revert back to the last completed 18-hole round which was completed on Tuesday. The Coffee County Red Raiders got a pair of historic finishes as they captured a 3^rd place team finish and Austin Farris medaled as an individual as he finished in 3^rd place.

As a team, the Raiders fired a 1^st day score of 309. The Raiders finished behind 1^st place Science Hill who fired a 291 and Farragut who shot a 304. The Red Raiders finish their historic season with a record of 80 and 7. The 3^rd place team and 3^rd place individual finishes are the best in Red Raider golf history for the state tournament.

Individually, senior Austin Farris had 2 birdies on Tuesday as he finished with an even par score of 72. Fellow senior Samuel Prater also had a pair of birdies as he carded a 76 to finish in 16^th place individually. Senior Matthew Hale finished his round with 2 birdies and a score of 78 as he came in 26^th place. Senior Josh Perry shot an 83 and freshman Logan Hale finished with a 95 to round out the Raiders scoring.

You can find a link to stats and scoring for the state tournament at: http://golf.tssaa.org/teamplayers.cfm?id=20181202

Coach Mike Ray and members of the Coffee County golf team will be featured on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show. The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast LIVE each Saturday morning from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln in Manchester. The Coffee Coaches Show can be heard from 10 to 11 AM here on Thunder Radio.

The Coffee County Middle School and Westwood Middle School golf teams battled horrible weather all spring after finally opening their season on April 2^nd at Willowbrook. The Raiders defeated Tullahoma on that wet Monday while Westwood dropped a close decision to Fayetteville. Thunder Radio reported on it in a story we brought you on April 3^rd

The Coffee County Middle School and Westwood Middle School golf teams opened up the 2018 season on Monday with a home match at Willowbrook. The Raiders teed off against Tullahoma while the Rockets battled the Tigers of Fayetteville. For the 2^nd year in a row, the middle schoolers used the “flag scoring” system with a 2 person scramble format.

In Westwood’s match with Fayetteville, the Rockets fell 7 ½ to 4 ½. The team of Katie Lawrence and Araya Hughes won their match 2 ½ to ½. Westwood also captured single flags from the team of Elizabeth Brown and Chloe Martin and the team of Macie Lawrence and Brylee Chansky.

In Coffee Middle’s match with Tullahoma, the Raiders captured a 7 to 5 win. The teams of Logan Hale/Cole Fowler and Xavier Bartley/Kaleb Jarrell won their matches 2 to 1. The team of Kira Jarrell and Lillian McGee got a 3 to 0 forfeit win.

The middle school golfers will hit the road on Tuesday when they travel to Shelbyville’s Riverbend Country Club. Coffee County will square off against Liberty while Westwood will do battle with Harris. The golfers will go off with a shotgun start at 3:30 PM.