By ANDREW SKWARA
For Brentwood Home Page
School had not started yet in Williamson County, but one sport was already under way. Local high school golf teams began competing in their first tournaments of the season two weeks ago.

As usual, expectations are lofty as the area boasts some of the top players and teams in the state.

Brentwood High's boys are coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2010 TSAA Division I-AAA State Tournament and feature a veteran-laden roster loaded with future college players.

Brentwood Academy's boys didn't lose a single player from a team that was a state runner-up at the Division II-AA State Tournament last year.

We take a look at each team below in our annual golf preview.

Boys Outlook

Brentwood Academy: New coach Parker Page inherits a wealth of talent and experience. Every key player returns from a state runner-up squad, including six seniors.

That group is led by Dylan Healey, who is heading to Arizona on a golf scholarship next fall. Healey won the 2009 Division II-AA State Tournament and finished third last season after posting two rounds of even par. Taylor Davis tied for 18th state tourney last season and is coming off a strong summer performance in junior tournaments. Tyler Emery, Chan Schoerke and Sam Stark are returning veterans who have posted solid scores in past years.

Page also calls junior Matthew Broadbent one of the most consistent performers on the team.

“We have a lot of seniors who know how to conduct themselves so I don't have to worry about teaching them course management,” Page said. “Our guys have a lot of experience and have competed at the highest level of junior tournaments as well. I have a lot of trust in them.”

Page previously coached at Mount Pisgah Christian School in the Alpharetta, Ga., where he had players earn scholarships to Clemson, Marquette and Vanderbilt.

Brentwood: Despite losing one of the top players in school history in Will Joiner (who earned a golf scholarship to Marquette), second-year coach John Higgins expects his team to improve after posting a top five finish at the state tournament and a 43-8 match record (29-3 in the regular season) last season.

“We have extremely high expectations this year,” said Higgins, who played at nearby Lipscomb University. “We have four of our five players who played in the state tournament returning. We have as many as seven guys on our team who could go on to play college golf. We have an outstanding chance to win the state tournament.”

Seniors Ryan Grundberg, Grant Lawrence and Peyton McClure are the co-captains and each had some impressive moments last season. Grundberg led the team in scoring average for 18-hole tournaments, shooting in the 70s in every full round. Lawrence tied for 10th at the state tournament, shooting one over par for two rounds. McClure won the University School of Nashville Invitational with a 73.

Sophomore Chris Tyminski has also shown great potential, firing a clutch 75 in the district tournament last season.

“I think Chris is going to be one of the best players to come out of this area,” Higgins said.” He's got a great rhythm to his golf swing and is a real top notch player.”

Ravenwood: No team in the area has to replace more players than the Raptors, who lost three seniors, including star Brendon Caballero, who finished fifth at the state tournament last season and is now playing at Tennessee-Martin. But eighth-year coach Dan Hollandsworth says his program, which won back-to-back region tournaments in 2008 and 2009, has plenty of talented underclassmen to work with.

“We don't rebuild at Ravenwood. We reload,” Hollandsworth said. “We have a lot of newcomers on the team who are pretty good golfers. I have high hopes for them.”

The youth-laden Raptors will lean on one veteran, senior and captain Jonathan Wise, who played well at a number of summer tournaments. Junior Austin Freels and sophomore Davis Baxter are among the team's top players as well.

Girls Outlook

Brentwood: Senior Catherine Doyle returns after qualifying for the state tournament last season. Doyle, who is also an exceptional student and considering several Ivy League schools, led the Lady Bruins with a 44.38 scoring average over nine-hole rounds.

“This is the kind of year that Catherine needs to capitalize on,” Higgins said. “She has a lot of ability and is more experienced now.”

The Lady Bruins, who finished second in the region and the district last season, must replace veteran Becca Gunger, who also played in the 2010 state tournament. Promising sophomore Shelby Winter will slide up to the No. 2 spot behind Doyle.

Ravenwood: Most of the players who guided the Lady Raptors to back-to-back runner-up finishes at the 2009 and 2010 state tournaments are gone, including star Taylor Manning. In fact, senior Katie Parrott is the only returning veteran for a program that has dominated the regional and district tournaments in recent years.

“Katie had an outstanding year last year and went to the state tournament (shot a 163 over two rounds),” Hollandsworth said. “I expect nothing less this year. She has been playing really well all summer long.”

Hollandsworth expects to get a boost from junior Nicky Stasiak, who transferred from the St. Louis area, as well.