Panther men’s golf’s talisman will compete for a state title.
On May 4, the team traveled to Highlands Falls Country Club, hosting 43 other players for the 5A West Regional. There senior Tanner Jones advanced to state for the second straight year.
“We had talked earlier, and Tanner's plan was – which I think was the correct plan – he said, ‘I'm going to go in with the mindset to win, and if I have a bad day then I'll still qualify for state,” said head coach Ryan Raby. “I think if you ask Tanner, he feels like he had a bad day, and he still qualified for state. So, I think it was a good plan going in, and it paid off for him.”
Having tied for second at last year’s 3A West Regional, Jones was among the best golfers in the newly-created 5A West this year, entering Monday’s tournament as its third-ranked player overall. Despite not having his best day, the senior tied for seventh place with an eight-over-par 78, just five strokes behind Regional Champion Will Monteith of South Point.
While just two full squads, South Point and West Henderson, advanced to state, Jones finished among the top six players not on a qualifying team, punching his ticket to Sapona Golf Club in Lexington. As Franklin’s first state participant since 2017, the then-junior placed 21st at Gates Four Golf Club in Fayetteville last year.
After Jones, freshman Oakley Brooks narrowly missed the cut for Franklin, tying for 13th just two strokes behind his senior teammate (80, +10). Freshmen Reid Willis (85, +15) and Bryce Bradley (86, +16) finished nearly back-to-back, tying for 26th and 29th, respectively. Senior Braylen Dulicai rounded out the Panther card in 39th (89, +19).
As a team Franklin’s top four scores added up to 329 strokes, good for fifth behind South Point (310), West Henderson (322), East Lincoln (324) and North Lincoln (324). While they barely missed the cut as a team, Raby credited his squad for a well-played round.
“I told them early in the [prior] week, ‘If we play the best round we've had, then we've got a chance – we'll be in the mix,” said Raby. “I'd have to look back, but I think when we played Smoky [Mountain] at Highlands Falls earlier in the year, I want to say we shot a 319. Had we done that on Monday – if we'd played our best – then we would have been moving on to state as a team right now, because I think West Henderson got second place with a 322.”
“But nonetheless, it was a super-tough day. That wind picked up and it got pretty breezy, and everything's different at that level,” he continued. “You can play the same course 15 times, but when you play it with that stress of it being a regional championship, everything's different – it doesn't matter how many times you've played the course. So, I thought they did really well under the pressure and the microscope of hosting it and things like that, and still shot a 329 to only be seven strokes out of second place. I thought that was really, really good.”
Despite the Panthers’ relative familiarity with Highlands Falls, the round’s high stakes, course topography and weather yielded tough conditions. With several underclassmen returning next year however, Raby believes the program’s future remains bright.
“We’ve got three freshmen, and all of them played well,” he said. “I'm sitting there watching a junior from East Lincoln who's an N.C. State commit … and that kid shoots an 82. It wasn't an easy day by any means, and our kids persevered and played really well.”
After the 5A West Regional, Jones and company traveled to Lexington the following weekend, ahead of the 5A State Championship May 11-12. The Press will report on the senior’s result in next week’s edition.
Sports Editor Will Woolever can be reached at sports@thefranklinpress.com