SPORTS

Bowie golf plays state next week

Published

11 months ago

05/20/2023

The Bowie boy’s golf team tee off on May 22-23 at the state golf tournament in Austin, hoping to come home with the program’s first medal.

It’s been more than a month since the Bowie boy’s golf team punched their ticket to state with a third place finish at regionals, but the team is finally heading to Austin to play early next week.
The Jackrabbits will play on May 22-23 at the Jimmy Clay Golf Course competing against the best in the state in 3A.
It is the second time Bowie is heading to the state meet in the last three years, having gone for possibly the first time in program history in 2021 where the team finished sixth. Coach Matthew Miller explained the team was happy to be there and did not have as good a shot at winning.
Two players on this year’s team were on that team as freshman and have state experience, Cy Egenbacher and Andrew Sandhoff. The rest of the team (Zac Harris, Hunter Lea, and Rayder Mann) will be playing at state for the first time.
The young team features no seniors and a loose, goofy atmosphere according to Miller which might help them on the lead up though he expects normal nerves from his team.
The Jimmy Clay Golf course is a par 72, plays 6,918 yards and is described as having traditional tree-lined fairways and elevated open greens.
Miller was planning to play it himself to get a feel for it before his team, but with the recent birth of twin daughters he has not had the time.
The course has been described by his contacts in the know as having nine holes with narrow fairways, where a slightly inaccurate tee shot can spell doom. The other nine holes are then described as more wide open, where aggressive players can take chances to swing for the greens.
All teams are allowed one practice round on the course before the state tournament starts. The Bowie team is scheduled to have a sendoff at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday so they can get a practice round in later that day.
No matter the course, Miller is confident his team has played in tougher conditions and courses.
“I’d be willing to guess the golf course we played at the regional tournament, nobody else in the state played that golf course or anything that hard,” Miller said. “Ours was difficult and then the wind started blowing 30, 40 miles an hour and it made it that much harder.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

SPORTS

Bowie golf heads back to state for third time in four years

Published

25 mins ago

04/20/2024

bowienews

The Bowie boy’s golf team finished third at the regional tournament at Abilene this week to qualify for the state tournament for the third time. (Photo by Tiffany Egenbacher)

The Bowie boy’s golf team is heading back to state tournament after competing at the regional tournament this week.
The Jackrabbits finished third overall, shooting 630 total after two days of competing at the Diamondback National Golf Club in Abilene.
Bowie was trying to get back to state for the third time in the last four years and improve on its third place finish since it returned everyone, but knew it would be tough.
State-power Brock, which finished ahead of the Jackrabbits at state last year, had two teams competing as well as Lubbock-Cooper Liberty showing off the program’s depth. Wall was not far behind as well, nipping at Bowie’s heels.
The conditions were perfect and several players were shooting the best they have all season. Cy Egenbacher led the team shooting 74 the first day. Rayder Mann (77) and Zac Harris (78) joined him the 70s which is really good and the first time all season three Bowie players had done it in one round.
Andrew Sandhoff shot 81 to round out the team’s score to 310 which put the team in third place, three shots behind Brock in second place and seven shots back from Cooper Liberty in first place.
Blanco was six shots back from Bowie in fourth place.
Hunter Lea shot 83, but it did not count towards the team total since it counts a team’s four lowest scores.
The second day saw all but one of the Jackrabbits players shoot a bit worse. Harris was the only player to shoot better as he shot 75 to lead the team.
Egenbacher shot 77. Mann and Sandhoff both shot 84 to put the team’s total for day two at 320. Hunter Lea shot 88 on day two.
Unfortunately, with Bowie’s score increasing by 10 from day one, it did not leave the possibility for the Jackrabbits to move up in the standings.
Brock’s team repeated its score from day one while Cooper Liberty actually lowered its score by seven shots from day one.
Blanco’s team increased its day two total by 10 shots as well to leave the door open for Wall to jump in the standings as it lowered its second day total by two shots.
Still, Bowie finished six shots ahead of Wall to get the final state qualifying spot.
Egenbacher had the lowest total for the Jackrabbits, shooting 151 during the two days as he finished tied for sixth place individually.
Harris shot 153 and was tied for 12th place individually. Mann shot 161 and finished tied for 24th. Sandhoff shot 165 and finished 33rd while Lea shot 171 and placed 49th.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.