Ravenwood senior Brendon Caballero was sixth at state and the Lady Raptors, shown with Coach Dan Hollandsworth, were runners-up for 2nd straight year.

Bruins team finishes fourth in AAA golf tourney

Brentwood Home Page sports reports
The Ravenwood girls team rallied to finish runner-up again in the state golf tournament, and Raptors senior Brendon Caballero led midway through the final round before tying for fifth place.

Brentwood High’s boys team came in fourth at the TSSAA Division I-AAA tourney Wednesday at WillowBrook Golf Club in Manchester, Tenn.

Lady Raptors senior Taylor Manning, the defending AAA girls champ, came back from a disappointing first day Tuesday with a 2-over par 74 to lead the RHS charge. Ravenwood, which finished second by a stroke last year, ended up three shots behind winner Soddy-Daisy to share second place with Bearden with 307.

"Soddy  Daisy has one heck of a team, and we definitely gave them a run for their money," Coach Dan Hollandsworth said. "Today was lots of fun, and we are happy to take home another trophy."

Caballero, right, with Michael Monroe of Independence.

Caballero, tied for second entering the day, knocked in a birdie on the first hole and birdied No. 5 to drop to 5-under after six holes in the final round and take the lead. But Caballero took an 8 on the par-5 No. 12 and fell to 2-under, then made another triple-bogey on No. 15.

"He really did catch a couple really bad breaks," Hollandsworth said.  "On one hole his ball drifted just a little left and caught a tree branch. If he hit that shot 99 more times, every other time the ball would have probably landed in the fairway. On this occasion, it darted straight left and went out of bounds, resulting in a triple-bogey. In trying to recover from that, he pressed and had another bad hole .

 "He also played like a champion today, and I couldn't be more proud of him."

After the triple-bogeys, Caballero said "I knew I needed to make something happen so instead of taking a 4 iron off of 16 ... I decided to hit driver. This paid off and I ended up birdeying the hole. Finally after a pretty lengthy wait on the 17 tee, I hit a good shot into the green and made another birdie.

"I finished out the round, and my high school career, with a par on 18. It felt really good to be able to finish 2-under on my last three holes." 

Boys medalist John Luke Tyner (138), a Collierville senior, caught fire with a 7-under 65 on the final day to win by three strokes. 

Caballero finished five strokes back with his 2-over 74 to finish at 1-under 143 for the 36 holes. Ravenwood classmate Paul Kleine-Kracht, also competing as an individual, finished in 23^rd with a 77_151.

"Both Brendon and Paul are great golfers and great people and are destined for amazing things once they leave the halls of RHS," Hollandsworth said. 

Already committed to play at Tennessee-Martin, Caballero has played in the state tournament all four years. "Making it to state all four years in high school was incredible," he said. "I enjoyed every minute of it, and I believed it helped me get through this year’s state tournament. Although I had never played well in state before, I felt like it was my turn and the patience and hard practice through the season paid off. I look forward to continuing my golfing career."

Lady Raptors recover from first round

Manning, teeing off at No. 10, was even on her first nine, despite taking a double-bogey 7 on No. 11 She wound up in a four-way tie for seventh at 153.

Natalie Turk

Ravenwood's Natalie Turk also played the course even par on the back side to start out and ended up 3-over -- after finishing 16-over the previous day. Both Turk and juinor Katie Parrott were at 163 for the two rounds.

Only the top four boys scores and top two girls scores count in totals for schools that qualified for the team competition.

“Today's tournament was quite the roller coaster ride. Going into today, we knew that we were in a difficult position, but we had been there before," Hollandsworth said. "I had full confidence that the girls could get back in contention. I know the level of golfers that we have on this team and they are, in a word, amazing. 

"We had a couple of bad breaks towards the end of the round that kept us from claiming the championship but given the fact that we started the day in 5th out of 8, I am  very proud of our golf team. They fought and played their hearts out."

Hollandsworth said all the RHS seniors -- Turk, Manning, Madison Braun, Caballero, Kleine-Kracht and Chris Sherry -- "will be sorely missed."

Back nine tough for most Bruins  

Brentwood junior Grant Lawrence shot even par 72 for the day and was 1-over for a three-way tie at 10th at 145. Lawrence scored an eagle on No. 11 and went 3-under on the challenging back nine.

Bruins classmate Ryan Grundberg was even over the first nine holes and shot 76_149 to finish 5-over and tied for 18th.

Grant Lawrence

"Grant Lawrence and Ryan Grundberg were key to us winning the regional tournament and finishing fourth in the state," first-year BHS coach John Higgins said "Their golf games peaked at the end of the season when it mattered most."

Senior Will Joiner (81_161) had another good day on the front nine, only to run into trouble on the back side as did Peyton McClure (83_160). Freshman Chris Tyminski shot an 81_164.

"Seniors Will Joiner and Cody Fincher will definitely be missed," Higgins said. "Will has been one of the top golfers to ever play for Brentwood High School. His junior accomplishments are impressive, coorelating with him being ranked second in the state for his graduating class. Cody Fincher has done a phenomenal job of leading the team as our captain this season. 

"Our team is still full of talented freshmen and juniors that I believe will lead us to more success in the future."

Tyner, the winner, sizzled out of the gate with an eagle on the par-4 first hole and birdies on No. 3, 7 and 9. While Caballero ran into problems, Tyner then knocked off a stroke on the back nine to go to 7-under.

Independence golfer Michael Monroe had a 74_144 to tie for seventh, while Franklin’s Chris Baker ended up at 77_156.

Brentwood’s Catherine Doyle and Becca Gunger also made state. 

BOYS

Team scores
Hendersonville 592, Houston 597, Farragut 605, Brentwood 613, McMinn County 620, Science Hill 620, Tullahoma 622, Brighton 677.

Ravenwood (individuals only)
PAR
453 444 534_36 +/- 435 444 534_36 +/- _ 72 +/-

Caballero, Brendon        69-74_143 (-1)
353 434 534_34 (-2) 438 537 424_40 (+4) _ 74 (+2)

Kleine-Kracht, Paul         74-77_151 (+7)
473 444 644_40 (+4) 336 543 535_37 (+1) _ 77 (+5)

Brentwood (team and individuals)

Lawrence, Grant              73-72_145 (+1)
545 544 534_39 (+3) 425 344 434_33 (-3) _ 72 (+0)

Grundberg, Ryan             73-76_149 (+5)
453 444 534_36 (+0) 436 444 654_40 (+4) _ 76 (+4)

McClure, Peyton              77-83_160 +(16)
443 554 554_39 (+3) 436 555 655_44 (+8) _ 83 (+11)

Joiner, Will                        80-81_161 (+17)
453 544 435_37 (+1) 435 644 (11)34_44 (+8)_81 (+9)

Tyminski,Chris                  83-81_164 (+20)
454 545 534_39 (+3) 436 645 644_42 (+6) _ 81 (+9)

Top individuals
1,  John Luke Tyner (Sr.), Collierville 73-65--138
2T, Adam Cunningham (Jr.), Cookeville   69-72--141
2T, Kevin Lee (So.), Hendersonville   68-73--141
4, Austin Jackson (Jr.), Houston   71-71—142
5T, Brendon Caballero (Sr.), Ravenwood   69-74—143
5T, Matt Kilgore (Sr.), Tullahoma   70-73—143
7T, Zach Botts (So.), Science Hill   70-74—144
7T, Jace DeVault (Sr.), Tennessee   72-72—144
7T, Michael Monroe (Jr.), Independence   70-74—144
10T, Wes Gosselin (Jr.), Hardin Valley    75-70—145
10T, Grant Lawrence (Jr.), Brentwood   73-72—145
10T, Stuart Thomas (So.), Farragut   71-74—145

GIRLS

Team scores
Soddy-Daisy 304, Ravenwood 307, Bearden 307, Jefferson County 318, Portland 321, Siegel 328, Munford 359, White Station 405.

Ravenwood (team and individuals)

Manning, Taylor               79-74_153 (+9)
553 345 535_38 (+2) 437 344 434 _ 36 (+0) _ 74 (+2)

Turk, Natalie                     88-75_163 (+19)
454 544 445_39 (+3) 434 344 545_36 (+0) _  75 (+3)

Parrott, Katie                     79-84_163 (+19)
663 645 634_43 (+7) 426 555 635_41 (+5) _ 84 (+12)

Brentwood (individuals only)

Gunger, Becca                   86-90_176 (+32)
584 555 745_48 (+12) 447 355 536_42 (+6) _ 90 (+18)

Doyle, Catherine              91-87_178 (+34)
463 656 635_44 (+8) 346 545 835_43 (+7) _ 87  (+15)  

Top individuals
1, Kendall Martindale (Sr.), Jefferson County   69-74—143
2T, Samantha Gotcher (So.), Clarksville   74-72—146
2T, Allie Knight (Sr.), Bearden   73-73—146
4, Teleri Hughes (So.), Farragut   74-75—149
5, Lacie York (So.), Sullivan South   77-73—150
6, Haley Cothran (Sr.), Soddy-Daisy   77-74—151
7T, Jessica Cathey (Jr.), Soddy-Daisy   74-79—153
7T, Abbie Gregory (So.), Beech   77-76—153
7T, Taylor Manning (Sr.), Ravenwood   79-74—153
7T, Emily Williams (Jr.), Lawrence County   74-79--153