Four NCHSAA Men’s Golf Championships
Scheduled For May 12-13
CHAPEL HILL – For the eighth year in a row, 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 72nd annual 4-A championships will be held at Pinehurst no. 6, with the 23rd annual 3-A championships at the Fox Fire Resort and Country Club’s East course at Fox Fire Village. The 2-A event, also the 23rd annual, is scheduled for Longleaf Golf and Country Club in Southern Pines, and the 11th annual 1-A championships will be contested at the Keith Hills Country Club in Buies Creek.
Each course will be set up at approximately 6,500 yards and par 72.
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.
Morrisville Green Hope is seeking its third straight 4-A state team championship and fourth in the last six years. Its previous two championships included a pair of sub-600 rounds, in 2006 at Pinehurst no. 6 and last year at The Reserve in Southport. Green Hope has an extremely well-balanced team and won both the Tri-Eight Conference championship and the Mid-East Region title. Senior Marcus Lindroos of the Falcons had Green Hope’s best score in the regionals at two-under 70, one of only five golfers in that regional to break par.
Hickory won the state 3-A championship a year ago and Robert Hoadley of Cameron Union Pines was the individual state champion. The 2006 champ, Charlotte Catholic’s Mike Muscatell, has once again qualified for the state event.
Ledford has earned the last three state 2-A team titles and is back to defend its crown, but two-time state individual champion Will Collins of Salisbury has graduated.
In the 1-A classification, East Surry has won the last three team championships and Siler City Jordan-Matthews took the two before that. John Weldon of East Surry won the 2007 individual 1-A crown.
The first threesomes will go off at eight o’clock in the morning on each of the two days of the tournament. 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 12-13, 2008
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: Ledford; 1-A: East Surry
Of Interest: The best individual round ever shot in an NCHSAA state championship was a 65 by Charlotte Independence’s Russell Killough on the Pinehurst no. 6 course in the 2001 4-A tournament.
