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 76th annual 4-A championships will be held this year at Pinehurst number eight, with the 27th annual 3-A championships at the Foxfire Golf and Country Club in Foxfire Village. The 2-A event, also the 27th annual, is scheduled for the Longleaf Golf and Country Club in Southern Pines, and the 15th annual 1-A championships will be contested at the Keith Hills Country Club in Buies Creek. 

The 4-A championships at Pinehurst are set for par 72 and 6,698 yards. The 3-A event at Foxfire on the East Course will be par 72 on a 6,591-yard layout. Longleaf’s set-up is par 71 and 6,600 yards for the 2-A tournament, and the 1-A championships at Keith Hills will be contested on a par 72, 6,625-yard layout.

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.

Raleigh Leesville Road won the 4-A team title last year, which snapped a Cary Green Hope string of four titles in the five previous seasons.  In fact, a 4-A school from Wake County has won 12 of the last 14 championships.

East Chapel Hill’s Ben Griffin had an outstanding 137 to win medalist honors in the 2011 tournament and placed second in his regional.

Burlington Williams won last year’s 3-A team title but there will be a new individual champion, since Hickory’s J.T. Poston won the last two and has graduated. Hickory was the team champion in 2007 and ’09.

In the 2-A classification, Salisbury is the defending team champion and a Salisbury golfer has earned top individual honors three times in the last six years.  North Lincoln won the 2-A team titles in 2009 and ’10.

Taylor Coalson of North Surry won the individual title a year ago and has qualified to defend his championship.

There have been four different team champs in the last four years in the 1-A classification, including East Surry, Topsail, West Montgomery and last year’s champ, Kernersville Bishop McGuinness. East Surry had a string of four straight 1-A team championships from 2005 through ’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.

Event: NCHSAA Men’s Golf Championships

Date: May 14-15, 2012

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: Raleigh Leesville Road; 3-A: Burlington Williams; 2-A: Salisbury; 1-A: Bishop McGuinness

Of Interest: The best individual round ever shot in an NCHSAA state championship was in the 2011 3-A championship at Foxfire, as J.T. Poston of Hickory fired a 63.