AUSTIN —
They easily could have gone through the motions.
Sitting eighth in the team standings after a miserable first day at the UIL Boys Golf State Championships, the Hornets could have trudged around the Jimmy Clay Golf Course without a care.
They could have turned in another big score, gotten back on the bus and hit the highway headed home to Huntsville.
These Hornets had too much pride to mail in the second round of the tournament. On Tuesday, the Huntsville boys made a huge turnaround, shooting a team score of 307, which moved them up to sixth in the team standings.
The Hornets shaved off 30 strokes from their opening 337, posted the tourney’s third-best team score and finished tied with Boerne Champion.
Seniors Brent Baker, Ryan Bennett and Tyler Belovsky all played much better in Tuesday’s final round. After all three turned in 85s on Monday, Baker shot a 2-over-par 74 Tuesday, Bennett fired a 77 and Belovsky had a 78.
Junior Cody Sammons rebounded from a first-day 84 with a 78 Tuesday. And freshman Cory Sammons followed his 83 with another 83.
“I’m really pleased with the guys that they made such a big turnaround today,” Huntsville golf coach Marcus Evans said. “We only got beat by the state champions (Dallas Highland Park) today by four shots.
“I wish we could have done it for both rounds, but the guys showed a lot of character doing what they did today. I’m very proud of them.”
Evans had plenty of reasons to be proud. After collectively playing one of the worst rounds of the past three seasons, the Hornets regrouped and finished their third consecutive state tournament with a bang.
Baker made three birdies and five bogeys Tuesday, with nothing higher than bogey on his card. Bennett made a pair of birdies on the front nine, and like his buddy Baker, carded nothing bigger than bogey all day.
Belovsky played a solid round, too. He had 12 pars and six bogeys. Cody Sammons, the second-place medalist at the Region III tournament at Raven Nest last month, had only one birdie Tuesday, but just one “other,” a double-bogey 6 on the tricky par-4 sixth hole.
Freshman Cory Sammons had two double bogeys, eight bogeys and one birdie Tuesday.
Evans said all of the Hornets played smarter golf in the second round.
More importantly, they decided during an evening team meeting Monday that they were going to put the first round in the can where it belonged and play Tuesday like they were in the hunt for a state championship.
“That first round we played hoping that we did the right thing,” Evans explained. “I asked them to put that aside and go out there with a purpose and be committed to every shot. Before they got up on the first tee today, each one of them also came to me one by one and told me they were ready to play.
“They took the right mental focus out on the golf course today and that made a big difference.”
At the end of Tuesday’s round, Evans said the Hornets had gained a bunch of new fans.
“A lot of people took notice of what we did. A lot of people came up and congratulated us after today’s round,” Evans said.
“That 30-shot improvement today was a statement, and that statement was that the field did not see the real Huntsville golf team on Monday. That 30-shot swing raised some eyebrows and showed everybody that this is what we were capable of.”
Evans said the Hornets were glad they played well Tuesday, but they left Austin empty-handed for the third year in a row.
Huntsville’s boys finished sixth in 2008, eighth last spring and sixth again this year.
“This group did go to Austin wanting to bring back some hardware,” Evans said. “Believe me, after that disappointing first round, we weren’t thinking about hardware anymore. But we did want to show people we were better than that.
“The guys, after today’s round, didn’t slap each other or give high-fives. They were still disappointed, but they felt a sense of satisfaction because we came back and posted a pretty good score.
“One round wasn’t good enough for them, though. They wanted two.”
Class 4A Boys Golf State Championships
Played Monday and Tuesday at Jimmy Clay Golf Course (par 72, 6,883 yards) in Austin.
Team standings
1. Dallas Highland Park 309-303 — 612
t2. Austin Lake Travis 316-309 — 625
t2. Montgomery 315-310 — 625
4. McKinney 321-306 — 627
5. Forth Worth Arlington Heights 320-317 — 637
t6. Huntsville 337-307 — 644
t6. Boerne Champion 319-325 — 644
8. Wolfforth Frenship 327-325 — 652
Individual medalists
1. C. Reed (Castroville Medina Valley) 70-73 — 143
2. B. McCarthy (FW Arlington Heights) 77-71 — 148
3. C. Ewing (Dallas Highland Park) 76-73 — 149
Huntsville scores
t26. Brent Baker 85-74 — 159
t32. Ryan Bennett 85-77 — 162
t32. Cody Sammons 84-78 — 162
t34. Tyler Belovsky 85-78 — 163
t39. Cory Sammons 83-83 — 166
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