Point golfers headed to state meet

PARKERSBURG — The Point Pleasant High School Varsity Golf Team accomplished a feat Tuesday at the Parkersburg County Club that has not happened for a number of years. The Big Blacks finished 2nd in Region 1 thereby qualifying as a team for the state high school golf tournament next week in Wheeling, WV.

Richie County won the Tournament with a fine score of 331 while Point's second place score of 348 easily beat the other 6 AA teams in the region.

Freshman Eric Allbright's score of 83 led the Point's team consistent play. Alex Potter followed Eric's score with an 87 while both Opie Lucas and Justin Cavender broke the 90 barrier with scores of 89 in the play 5, count 4 format. Travis Grimm added a 94 for the day, but his score was not included in the final count.

The Point team is young with 1 junior, 3 sophomores and a freshman earning most of the playing time this season. Coach Mike Lucas stated the team set their goal to play in the state tournament at the start of the year and he was most pleased with the regional results. He feels that if this team stays together they could be making the trip to Wheeling for the next several years.

The State Tournament will be played October 6 and 7 at the Oglebay Resort on the Jones Course at the Speidel Golf Club.

Wahama's Greene advances to state

TORNADO — It seems as though the Wahama High School Varsity Golf Season just started yesterday. But, that is not the case as the season came to an end Monday in the regional tournament held at the Big Bend Golf Course in Tornado, WV.

The White Falcons finished 4th in the 7 team match up for 2 State Tournament berths. Charleston Catholic won the championship while Man High School and Huntington St. Joe tied for second forcing a playoff to determine the second team to go to Wheeling next week. Huntington St. Joe won the playoff.

Catholic's winning total was 342 in the play 5, count 4 format. Both Man and St. Joe shot 351 in regulation play. Wahama's 4th place score was 357, which was the same score as last year.

All was not lost for the White Falcons as Dave Greene shot a fine 78 on the wet and very windy course to qualify as an individual for the State Tournament. This will be Dave's 3rd year to play in the season ending event for the state's best golfers.

Dave almost had a team-mate join him for the trip to Wheeling. Freshman Dakota Sisk shot a very good 89 which placed him in a tie for the 4th spot among individuals. Unfortunately, Dakota came up just short in the play-off and will have to wait until next year to carry his season beyond the regional tournament.

In many ways, this was a sad day for the Wahama Team as it was the final match for several seniors. Co-Captain Brandon Johnson has played golf for Wahama since his junior high days. He is a wondeful young man who always had a smile on his face. You could never tell if he was having a good day or a bad one from his expression. He will be missed. Zack Whitlatch, a relative newcomer to Wahama golf will also graduate along with Sam German.

However, all is not lost for the future White Falcon Golf Teams. Matt Arnold will return along with Kevin Back. Dakota Sisk will return along with fellow freshmen, Samuel Gordon, and Caroline Thompson. In addition considerable talent will join the varsity next fall from a most promising Junior High Team.

Winebrenner leads seniors with one week left

MASON — Mick Winebrenner of Racine, Ohio is real close to another Senior League Championship at Riverside Golf Club in Mason. Mick has a total of 169.5 points for the season to nearly cloe out the championship for others.

In a second place tie with 151.0 points each are Jack Maloney of Gallipolis and Paul Somerville of Pt. Pleasant. One point farther back is the first half champion, Carl Stone of Ripley.

The damp weather on Tuesday held the number of player down to fifty-nine for fourteen teams of four and a three man team to make fifteen points available to the winning score.

The low score was tied at 59 (-11 under par) between the teams of Mick Winebrenner (Racine), Bob Hill (Gallipolis), Frank Brown (Point Pleasant), and Chuck Butterworth (Pomeroy) , and Ed Debalski (Ripley), Bob Humphrey (Camp Conley), Mitch Mace (Point Pleasant), and Paul Somerville (Point Pleasant).

In third place with a score of 60 (-10 under par) was the threesome of Bill Yoho (New Haven), Jim Mitchell (Gallipolis), and Tom Fisher (Point Pleasant).

The closest to the pin winners were Bob Oliver of Mason and Earl Johnson of Mason. Next week will mark the final week of competition for the 2009 Official Senior Season. There will be the Senior Awards Dinner following play with the closest to the pin shoot out as well.

Mick Winebrenner 169.5

Jack Maloney 151.0

Paul Somerville 151.0

Carl Stone 150.0

Haskel Jones 148.0

Bob Oliver 145.5

Bob Stewart 145.0

Frank Brown 144.0

Bob Hill 131.5

Bob Humphrey 130.5

Kenny Greene 129.5

Gerald Kelly 128.5

Bob Hysell 128.5

Don Corbin 128.0

Mitch Mace 127.5

Tom Fisher 126.5

Curtis Grubb 123.5

Russ Holland 123.5

Richard Mabe 122.5

Jim Gress 122.0

Steve Safford 121.0

Ed Wilson 117.0

Jack Fox 116.5

Cecil Minton 114.5

Jimmy Joe Hemsley 113.5

Earl Johnson 112.5

Bill Stricklin 111.5

Bub Stivers 110.5

Ed Debalski 110.5

Claude Proffitt 108.0

Bill Yoho 104.5

Gary Minton 104.0

Butch Bookman 102.5

Buford Brown 102.5

Chuck Butterworth 102.5