Morgan golf team finishes third at state

Published 9:38 pm Tuesday, April 25, 2017

The Morgan Academy golf team was a bit disappointed Tuesday, but the Senators’ future still looks as bright as ever.

The team finished third overall at the Alabama Independent School Association state tournament, two shots behind second place Glenwood Academy. Morgan was hoping to make a run at Lee-Scott, the decisive favorite entering the tournament, but had a goal of finishing at least second overall.

The Senators fell a bit short of that goal, but third place for a team led by a tenth grader, ninth grader and eighth grader, it’s pretty impressive. Lee-Scott, playing on its home course, won the tournament by 67 shots.

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“We are a little disappointed. I think we may have read our press clippings before we came over here,” said Morgan coach Ira Wagoner. “We didn’t have a very good day yesterday, but we played much better today, but it wasn’t enough to overcome yesterday.”

Three Morgan Academy players finished in the top 11 overall in the individual competition. Jones Free finished seventh in the tournament with a total score of 151, or 7-over par. He finished 15 shots behind Lee-Scott’s Turk Pettit, who won the individual tournament.

Gus Colvin finished ninth at 10-over and Thomas Morris was eleventh at 11-over. Morris led the Senators on Tuesday with a 74. He had two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on 15.

Lee-Scott had the top three finishers in the individual tournament. Pettit bested teammates Conner Reid and Davis Thompson, who both finished two back. Lee-Scott was the only team with any players under par.

Nine players participated in the tournament for the Senators on Monday. Free, Colvin, Morris, Cothran and Harvill competed for the Senators team score of 632. Arrington Mooney, Sam Brackin, Colton Roberts and Will Alison also participated in the tournament.

“We are still kids and we will do better,” Wagoner said.

He said he told the team that if they want to improve, they’ll have to play golf year-round, not just when the school season starts.

“In order to get to the next level, we have to be 12 month golfers,” Wagoner said. “We can’t pick it up in February and expect to be as good as we can be.”