Sports: Leopards freshmen secure GCAC title

Leopards freshmen secure GCAC title

By CAREY FREEMAN

SUGARMILL WOODS -- For Pete Lahey, the view at Southern Woods Golf Club was good. Very good.

That is, the sight of the Leopards' Matt Farmer and Keegan Ledford battling it out in a playoff for medalist honors at Monday's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference tournament was a welcomed sight for the Hernando golf coach.

Yet the image of the two freshmen was more than a look into a future filled with potential, it was also a glimpse of the Leopards' present. In short, it was a sign of things to come in the team competition, which Hernando captured by 14 strokes over Lecanto.

"Those two freshmen really came through," Lahey said. "You usually don't see that kind of maturity from two freshmen, but they stepped up and played a good game today. Seeing them in a playoff ... they didn't want to do that, they're really good friends and they play together all the time ... but somebody had to be the champion. One, two in conference as freshmen, that's a great feat for them."

Farmer won the medalist title on the first hole of the playoff when he rolled in the last of several medium-range par putts.

The two, who shot rounds of 76, remained close throughout the day, with Farmer leading by one stroke after posting a birdie and two bogies on the front nine. Both struggled somewhat on the back with Ledford making up the difference, only to fall short in the playoff.

The key for Farmer was keeping his ball in play, while Ledford was hampered by a tee shot that landed to the left on the 402-yard, par-4 first hole. Blocked by a tree, Ledford's second shot sailed to the right side, but the freshman recovered with a solid third shot that made the green.

Farmer remained steady, placing his second shot just off the green then chipped within 10 feet of the hole and made the par putt to seal the win.

"I've been in a slump for about three weeks now ... and I finally got out of it," Farmer said. "I've been shooting in the 40s (over nine holes) and that's not like me. My putting was the difference. I didn't miss a putt inside of six feet. I made everything and that helped a lot."

Farmer and Ledford were two of only four golfers to shoot under 80 on Monday. Lecanto's D.J. Wheat (77) finished in third, followed by Crystal River's Brian Wilkerson, whose round was hampered severely by an eight on the par-4 ninth hole. Mario DeAngelis of Springstead was next at 80, followed by the foursome of Matt Johnson and Chandler Beasley of Hernando, Citrus' Robert Taylor and 1998 GCAC champ Andy Adolfsson of Lecanto at 81.

"We didn't play very well," Lecanto coach Chuck Holestein said. "I'm pretty disappointed in the way my No. 1 (Adolfsson) and No. 2 (Jimmy Metz) played. I expected Andy, definitely, to break 80. But he double bogied eight and nine and came in at 40.

"That's just the game of golf. Some days you go out, play really well and you're on ... other days you go out, not get some breaks, not make a few putts here and there ... "

Central, which had just one win entering Monday's action, placed a surprising third with a score of 335 thanks to a consistent effort from the foursome of Andrew Coogan (84), Steve Andrade (83), Nick Paff (85) and Allan Solomon (83). Citrus (347) was next, followed by South Sumter (348), Springstead (355) and Crystal River (358).