A much-anticipated campaign is underway for Panther men’s golf.
Following their second straight trip to the 3A West Regionals last spring, the same core of players have returned for Franklin this season, including all but one of last year’s five-man regional team. With three official matches already under their belts, the team’s coach says they should have all the talent they need to return.
“It’s been good. It’s a veteran bunch of kids in here – not necessarily all seniors, but a veteran bunch in the fact that they’ve played before,” said Ryan Raby of his eighth year coaching the team. “The only new face we have is a kid [Michael Strange] who played in middle school, and then last year as a freshman played men’s volleyball instead of golf, but he came back to golf this year. The middle school [team] had zero eighth-graders last year, so there wasn’t anybody to move up from there, and we’re sitting at [eight] people. It’s a good number, a good group of kids, and a good group of golfers as far as skill goes, as well.”
After nearly a month of preseason workouts, on the week of Feb. 24 the team dove headfirst into the regular season, facing a busy slate of matches at Springdale Golf Club (Cruso), Smithfields Country Club (Easley, S.C.) and the Franklin Golf Course. Junior Tanner Jones picked up right where he left off last spring, turning in nine-hole rounds of 43, 41 and 35 strokes.
In leading Panther men’s hoops to the state playoffs as its leading scorer and rebounder, Max McClure got a late start to the season, missing all of the team’s preseason workouts and its season opener at Springdale. Upon joining the team at Smithfields however, the senior didn’t miss a beat, tying Jones for its low round at 41.
The last two members of last year’s regional squad, seniors Cole Martin and Gabe Stilwell also impressed, tying for the team’s low round at Springdale with 42. Martin also shot the team’s second-lowest rounds at both Smithfields (43) and Franklin (38).
Sophomore Nico Abbate continued to build on a strong freshman year, shooting consistently in the mid-40s at 45, 43 and 43. Junior Braylen Dulicai shot the team’s third-lowest round in Franklin (41), with Strange and Will Vanderwoude finishing at 54 and 49, respectively.
Between official matches with other teams and intrasquad qualifying rounds, Franklin’s eight golfers will battle throughout the spring for the right to represent the team in conference, regional and state championships. Having been hard-pressed to select a lineup last year due to the team’s consistent play, Raby said he’ll have his work cut out for him once again.
“Essentially, Max and Tanner have proven that they belong in the top five, so as of right now they don’t have to qualify for matches,” said Raby. “However, both of them and the team also know that if they start going to nine-hole matches and turning in scores in the 50s, or 18-hole matches and turning in scores in the 90s, then we’re gonna have to revisit that and open up the qualifying as well. … I would say, if nothing else, the five spot will probably remain open most of the year.”
Following the graduation of former senior Ashton Shope, at least one new golfer will join Franklin’s postseason lineup this spring, with the Mountain Seven Conference tournament scheduled to tee off April 9. There, the team will set their sights on regional powerhouse Pisgah.
“We’ve definitely talked about it, but we’re taking it one step at a time in the fact that our first and immediate goal is to win conference,” said Raby on whether the team had discussed returning to regionals. “Pisgah’s had a chokehold on this conference for several years now, and that’s something we really, really want to try to beat. … We played them at Springdale this past Monday, and obviously that was without Max – he was still with basketball. We didn’t win the match, but it’s early-season. This is here to get us ready for the end of the year, so I told the guys I’d much rather come in second during that match on Monday and peak at the end of the year.”
On Pisgah’s home course at Springdale, which will once again host the 3A West Regional May 7, Franklin got an early look at their rivals’ roster this spring. Having narrowly missed a trip to state at last year’s regional, Raby said the team is knocking on the door.
“It’s shaping up to be a dogfight this year, and I think we’re up to the challenge,” said Raby. “We talked a lot about the fact that – and this kind of raised some eyebrows when I said it, because I don’t think they quite understood that in reference to how good they could be – is that we only missed going to state as a team by 10 strokes last year. So, two-and-a-half, three strokes per person is all we needed to shave last year. You can’t say that for this year because it hasn’t happened yet, but … that kind of raised some eyebrows and made them think, ‘Hey, well maybe we can compete.’ So, hopefully they’ll feed off that.”