7A BOYS STATE GOLF

Bulldogs go after another state title

FAYETTEVILLE -- The pursuit of a third straight Class 7A boys golf state championship for Fayetteville this season has been a wild adventure.

The final path to another possible title begins today, as the Bulldogs host this year's 7A state tournament at Fayetteville Country Club.

At A Glance

Class 7A Boys Golf Tournament

When: Today-Wednesday

Where: Fayetteville Country Club

Defending Champion: Fayetteville

Notable: Tournament was originally set to be held at Paradise Valley Athletic Club, but was moved to FCC when Paradise Valley closed for the fall season due to course renovations.

But while Fayetteville prepares to defend back-to-back crowns, home course advantage isn't as much as it appears.

Fayetteville lost its normal home course this golf season when Paradise Valley Athletic Club was closed for renovations. The Bulldogs split home matches between the Links at Fayetteville and Stonebridge Meadows. Only one match all season, a final home contest against Rogers Heritage, was played at Fayetteville Country Club.

"We played once there and our top five or six guys have been practicing up there the last couple of weeks," Fayetteville golf coach Scott Williams said. "So we're thankful for that.

"It's been a crazy year with all the moving around. We played a lot of our matches at Stonebridge Meadows and we're thankful for that because it's a challenging course. But the concern is this course (Fayetteville Country Club) is a little bit shorter and you wonder if that will help the other teams, because our strength is putting it out there a long ways."

No matter how big or small the course advantage is, Fayetteville is a team to go through with a lineup that features plenty of experience. Luke Long, the 2013 state overall champion who is verbally committed to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, leads the Bulldogs as a senior. John Gibson, who has battled Long for the top spot in the lineup this season, is joined in today's varsity roster by Andrew Elsass, Jake Warner and Jackson Cole.

"It was the closest race I've ever had to set our guys for state," Williams said. "Our one and two guys were pretty locked in, but our guys three through eight were only separated by four strokes."

Bentonville figures to give Fayetteville the biggest push from the 7A-West Conference, while Conway could be the top contender from the 7A-Central.

"Conway is who I'm looking at," Williams said. "I know they have a couple of guys who can really play and their program is on par with ours.

"But I'm not going to shy away from it, we're the team to beat. There's about four or five schools who have one or two really good golfers. We're hoping that's where our three, four and five guys and our depth comes in."

The Class 7A Tournament is 36 holes played over today and Wednesday. Today's round will also serve as the conference tournament for the 7A-West.

Shiloh Christian will look to defend its Class 4A state title today in Cave City. The Saints claimed a narrow victory last season in a sudden-death playoff. Shiloh Christian has played a tough schedule this season to prepare to defend its title. Junior Canon Cothran, who shared medalist honors last season at the state tournament, will lead the Saints today at the Cooper's Hawk golf course in Cave City.

Other state golf tournaments today are Class 6A at Searcy, Class 5A at Harrison, Class 3A at Cedar Ridge, Class 2A at Holiday Island and Class 1A at Horseshoe Bend.

Vernon Tarver can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAVernon.

Sports on 10/06/2015

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