Bentonville's Golfers Must Take Younger Route

BELLA VISTA -- Kent Early had good reasons to be optimistic when Bentonville's boys golf coach thought he would have four players return from a team that finished as the Class 7A state runnerup last year.

That was before two of those players moved out of state, and now Early will need some younger golfers to emerge if the Tigers want to keep building on last year's success.

Bentonville High School 2014 Golf Schedule

2014 Golf Match Schedule

Aug. 5^at Springdale Har-Ber Invitational (girls)

Aug. 6^at Springdale Invitational (boys)

Aug. 19^Springdale High (boys only)*

Aug. 21^at Springdale Har-Ber

Aug. 28^Fayetteville!

Sept. 2^at Fayetteville

Sept. 4^Rogers Heritage

Sept. 6^ at Conway Invitational

Sept. 9^Springdale Har-Ber!

Sept. 11^Rogers High*

Sept. 16^at Rogers Heritage

Sept. 23^at Rogers High

  • — Berksdale Golf Club

! — Bella Vista Country Club

& — Scottsdale Golf Course

"We have a lot of young golfers that have played AJGA and such, so they have experience in those tournaments," Early said. "Hopefully, their experience there carries over into high school, and they are able to perform and fill the gaps.

"We lost two pretty good players in Tyler See and Javier Prensa, and I'm anxious to see who can step up and fill those roles. Golf is a funny game, and it's hard, and youth is not on your side most of the time."

Bentonville will build this year's team around Tomas Mariscotti, an all-state performer last year, and Wade Schaller, who was the Tigers' No. 5 golfer last season. Carter Smith and Nate Morey were members of the junior varsity team last year and have a good chance to contribute on a varsity level this fall, while the younger golfers will be counted on to fill the rest of the gaps.

"We have a couple that have a chance to fill the spots and be competitive," Early said. "We just hope that, during the season, they stay calm and relaxed and stay within themselves.

"They just need to play their game and not try to do too much. They just need to compete against the course."

Bentonville Girls

The optimism remains high for Bentonville's girls golfers because of the experience they bring back this season. The Lady Tigers return four of their top five players from a team that finished fourth in the Class 7A state tournament, including all-state performers Kate Robertson and Hanna Brauburger.

"We're looking forward to this season," Bentonville coach Lindsey Davis said. "Most of the girls are seasoned, having played in the state tournament. We also have a couple of girls that I rotated into the starting lineup last year that are looking forward to seeing more playing time.

"Our top four golfers are shooting mostly in the 40s over nine holes, so now we are looking for that somebody to step into that fifth spot and shoot anywhere from a 44 or 45."

McKenzie Dixon and Taytum Billington, both of whom were solid starters last season, are also back and give the Lady Tigers even more experience. Maddie Weston and Katie McCloskey, both of whom were rotated into the fifth spot at times last season, hope to earn more playing time this fall and earn that fifth spot.

The extra year of experience, added with the improvement the players have shown while playing in the summer, gives Davis hope that Bentonville can finish even better this season.

"I think the girls were a little disappointed with how they finished last season," Davis said. "We played well last season, then we struggled a little bit at the state tournament. I think all of them are looking to bring their scores down into the low 80s or even the high 70s over 18 holes."

Sports on 08/04/2014

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