Commerce’s Tiger golfers started what they hope will turn out to be a good season last Thursday against Jackson County.
Although they finished seven shots behind Jackson County — shooting a 207 to the Panthers’ 200 — Commerce has high hopes for the season.
While the weather conditions canceled Monday’s match against Oglethorpe, the Commerce golfers will head to Homer next Monday to play Banks County. Both the boys and girls will face Banks at Hammer’s Glen.
According to coach David Stephenson, both teams have several golfers with great potential.
Low medalist against Jackson County was Casey Drinkard who shot a 40. Drinkard went into the round Thursday with only three days of practice under his belt after coming off the wrestling season.
“I was really pleased with Casey Drinkard shooting a 40 this early in the year,” said Stephenson.
Sam Purcell shot a 46 followed by Austin Patterson with a 54 and Andrew Minish shooting a 67 in his first golf match.
Stephenson said Purcell came back from a rough start to finish strong.
“He kept his head up and kept competing after a bad first hole.”
Patterson hit some good shots according to Stephenson, who is confident that Patterson’s score will be lower next round.
The Tigers were missing two golfers from the Jackson County match. Colton Dean was finishing up with basketball and Brandon Coots was ill. Stephenson said he expects good scores when they return.
Girls’ Golf
While the girls were unable to post a score from the round against Jackson County, Stephenson said Commerce has some good golfers.
“I was really pleased with the girls’ play,” Stephenson said. “All four hit some really good shots. Because of the late start, we did not get to finish nine holes so we could not post a score. If the girls continue to work we could be pretty good this year.”
Being led by four seniors, Chelsey Cain, Cassie Adams, CJ Wilkes and Anna Marie Hooper, the team also has some incoming talent.
“[Freshman golfer, Haley Chestnut] has looked impressive in practice and could push some of the seniors for playing time,” said Stephenson.
Other talented ladies include Hannah Patterson, who is in her second year on the greens; Ann Drinkard and Hilary Gary are both in their first seasons on the high school team while Lindsay Embrick and Ella Sims are learning the game.
