Hayesville – Several area teams participated in the 1A West Regional Golf Tournament at Mountain Harbour Golf Club in Hayesville on May 6.
Unfortunately for the close-to-home teams, none of them nor individual golfers will advance to the next round of competition. There were 21 teams in the Western 1A Regional, only the top three teams advanced to the next round and no Smoky Mountain Conference team qualified.
Murphy, Robbinsville and Highlands finished in seventh, eighth and ninth places, respectively. No other conference teams had enough golfers to qualify for the team competition. The top three finishers were Mitchell, Mountain Heritage and Cherryville.
The individual portion of the tournament has the top nine golfers who are not included on one of the top three teams. The only golfers out for the conference to qualify for the state event were Isaiah Brown of Robbinsville and Carson Forrester of Highlands; Murphy’s Andrew Barolet and Brady Golden missed the trip by only one stroke.
Barolet had a good round, finishing the break with a 41, but a bogey on the 18th hole cost him a chance to advance in the tournament. Barolet finished with an 83, as did teammate Brady Golden, who had a 38 at the turn but triple-bogeyed the 18th hole.
Conner Golden shot an 87, Will Joyner finished with a 101, while Xander Wachacha shot a 105. Andrews had only one golfer in the tournament, Brady Queen, who shot a 101.
Barolet, Joyner and Wachacha are all seniors, but head coach Joseph Watson will have the Golden twins back next year.
After the match, Watson said he hated that Barolet and Brady Golden missed advancing by only one shot, but he was proud of this year’s team accomplishments, which included another Smoky Mountain Confer