PREP GOLF: 6A state golf tournament field wide open

The field is wide open for the Class 6A state boys golf championship with two-time defending state champion Bentonville fielding an all new team.

But don't count the Tigers out as Coach Kent Early said his team is peaking at just the right time to be a threat in the two-day event at Hurricane Golf and Country Club in Bryant.

The Tigers won the annual First Tee tournament at Bella Vista two weeks ago and finished second to Fayetteville last week by three strokes.

"I have one senior, one junior, a sophomore and two freshmen," said Early. "When we started the year off, we came in third place in three tournaments in a row. Then finally we went to the First Tee annual classic, and we win it.

"So the kids are steadily getting a little bit better. I think because I've got the freshmen and sophomore, and the inexperience, you can go ahead and add 10 strokes to our regular score, because we're playing on a course we don't know. The other teams may, but we don't have a clue."

Last season, the Tigers ran away with the state team championship by 30 strokes at Shadow Valley Country Club in Rogers, led by the duo of Phisher Phillips and Michael Senn, who dominated the field. The two were so good that Phillips edged Senn for top medalist at the 6A state tournament, rallying from seven strokes down, then Senn returned the favor by winning the state overall medalist title.

Fayetteville is a team that could challenge for the state title with a loaded squad led by junior Zach Gardener. Gardener won the medalist title at the Rogers tournament last week and has a season-low 68 in another tournament.

"Zach has played really well for us the past three seasons and he's really developed to where he is a long-ball hitter," said Fayetteville Coach Scott Williams. "Because he is so long off the tee, but the other side is, him being long has not hurt his short game. He's pretty consistent all the way around. But being able to get down the fairway is his strength.

"But when you can reach a par 5 in two shots, reasonably, that is saying a lot for a high school kid."

Both Early and Williams feel like their teams, along with Rogers, represent the best from the 6A-West this week to bring back the state championship trophy. But both also agreed that the teams from the 6A-Central, particularly Cabot, will be tough to beat based on course familiarity.

"Going into it, I feel like Cabot is the favorite," said Williams. "But I'll also tell you how I think it's going to shake out. I think it's a five-team race. It's going to be closer this year than it ever has been since I've taken over the team here at Fayetteville. Cabot, [Little Rock] Catholic, Conway, Fayetteville and Rogers. It's one of those years. But Cabot, because they are senior-heavy, with experience, to me, that gives them a little bit of an edge."

For Cabot, junior Easton Denney and seniors Carson Stephens and Jacob Knowlton have been the Panthers' key components, with Stephens winning the Arkansas State Golf Association Junior Match Play title this summer. Denney also finished No. 9 in the American Junior Golf Association's Accenture Northwest Arkansas Tournament this year.

The first round of the tournament will start at 8 a.m. today. The teams will also use today's scores to determine the conference championship.

Each team will have five golfers and the scores of the top four will be counted toward the team score both days in addition to the individual scores determining the medalists.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff writer Adam Cole contributed to this article.