FOUR NCHSAA MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULED TO START MONDAY
CHAPEL HILL – All four North Carolina High School Athletic Association state men’s golf championships will be played simultaneously at four different sites across the state on Monday and Tuesday.
The 74th annual 4-A championships will be held this year at Pinehurst number eight, with the 25th annual 3-A championships at the Foxfire Golf and Country Club in Foxfire Village. The 2-A event, also the 25th annual, is scheduled for Keith Hills Country Club in Buies Creek and the 13th annual 1-A championships will be contested at the Longleaf Golf and Country Club in Southern Pines.
Each course will be set up at approximately 6,500 yards and par 72, with the exception of a par 71 at Longleaf for the 1-A tournament.
The top three teams from each of the regionals along with the top three individuals not on one of the qualifying teams earned spots in the 36-hole classified championships. Prior to 1986, all NCHSAA golf teams competed for a single title in an open tournament. Play went to three classifications in 1986 and then to four classes beginning with the 1998 tournaments.
Cary Green Hope has won three of the last four 4-A team championships, and Michael Cromie of Green Hope is back to defend his individual championship after shooting 73-66–139 to take the 2009 title on Pinehurst number four. Southern Pines Pinecrest, the 2008 champion, has also qualified as a team for the 4-A championship.
Defending 3-A champion Hickory returns to the state tournament, seeking its third team title in the last four years, and the Red Tornadoes will have to battle Wilson Fike, the ’08 champ and last year’s runner-up.
In 2-A, defending champ North Lincoln will look to repeat, but will have to battle Topsail, which won last year’s 1-A title but has moved up in the new realignment.
Greg Bunner of Gastonia Highland Tech was the 2009 1-A medalist, as he shot a three-under 141 total on the Siler City Country Club course, capturing the individual crown by a whopping eight shots. He will be gunning for a second straight 1-A crown. John Welden of East Surry is the only golfer to win back to back 1-A titles, which he did in 2007-08.
The first threesomes will go off at eight o’clock in the morning on each of the two days of the tournament in all four classifications.
Wendy’s and the Carolinas Ford Dealers are the presenting sponsors of the NCHSAA sports program.
NCHSAA FastFacts
Event: NCHSAA Men’s Golf Championships
Date: May 10-11, 2010
Site: four different sites
First Held: 1937
Qualifiers: top three teams from each regional, top three individuals not on one of the qualifying teams, in each classification
Defending team champions: 4-A: Green Hope; 3-A: Hickory; 2-A: North Lincoln; 1-A: Topsail.
Of Interest: The best individual round ever shot in an NCHSAA state championship was a 64 in last year’s 2-A tournament at Longleaf by Justin Clement of West Davidson.
