BRASELTON -- Spencer Ralston hasn't stopped winning all season. Ashleigh Bishop has hardly played all season.
On Monday, Bishop showed that -- had she been healthy -- she may well have experienced a campaign similar to that of her fellow Gainesville High golfer.
Ralston and Bishop each burned up the Chateau course at Chateau Elan in the Region 8-AAAAA championships, Bishop carding a low round of 78, while Ralston fired a 1-under 70 to finish tied with teammate Nathan Williams through regulation. A sudden death playoff hole provided Ralston with his sixth individual crown of the campaign -- part of an impressive day for both Gainesville boys and girls teams, as the Red Elephants claimed the team title with a 291, while the Lady Red Elephants finished 17 shots behind Winder-Barrow with a 298 to qualify for the state sectionals.
"We're feeling pretty good right now," said Ralston, who helped the Red Elephants to their 38th region crown overall and fifth in a row. "We've got a huge tournament coming up -- our tournament (The Invite, May 1-2 at Chattahoochee Golf Club) -- and then state, and we're playing pretty well."
The Gainesville girls will have to go the sectional route to clinch a state berth, but a healthy Bishop will certainly boost Gainesville's hopes, as the junior showed on Monday.
"My confidence level will stay pretty strong after this," said Bishop, who last played on Feb. 22 before suffering a fractured rib that derailed her regular season. And after finishing second in last year's region championship tournament, Bishop showed she had not lost much of anything -- despite the long layoff.
"I couldn't set the bar too high coming in because I just would have gotten nervous," Bishop said. "And I was rusty to start -- the first couple of holes were awful. But I picked myself up just tried to stay level-headed."
Bishop was also handed a boost when stormy weather -- that included a tornado warning and pelting hail -- swept in to force more than an hour's delay.
"I was mentally and physically exhausted before that, and that gave me a breather," said Bishop, who entered the delay tied with Winder-Barrow's Savannah Rainbolt for the low score but fired out of the break, dropping a par putt on the the par 3 No. 12 that Rainbolt could only bogey.
Bishop also carded a birdie on the par 5 No. 9, sticking a five-iron approach shot before sinking a 10-foot putt.
"My experience and all these years of playing golf helped out today," said Bishop, who will lead Gainesville in the Class AAAAA sectionals on May 4 at Heron Bay Golf Club in Locust Grove.
Experience also proved key for the Gainesville boys, who dominated the field -- all six Red Elephants scored inside the top 10 (and two of those scores did not count toward the Red Elephants' team total) -- on a course they had played just two days earlier in the North Georgia High School Invitational (finishing second behind Columbus High). Flowery Branch also finished second, recording a team score of 331 to qualify for the boys sectionals (Apalachee also made it into sectionals with a 333).
"It was sloppy; it was just a tough day out there trying to beat the weather and get done," said Gainesville coach Bryson Worley, who joined his team -- and other competitors -- in the basement of the Chateau clubhouse when a potentially dangerous storm system bore down on the course.
Yet the most surreal moment for Worley was to follow, as he watched two of his own golfers battle in sudden death for the individual crown, as Ralston took on Williams on the par 4 No. 18.
"These are the two most competitive kids we have on the team -- they've competed with each other for everything ever since they were little; they'd probably compete to see who could get their shoes on fastest," Worley said. "It was like watching your two kids play each other."
The difference proved a par putt for Ralston on 18, who enjoyed a solid round overall.
"It was different for sure, playing (against Williams) with something on the line," Ralston said. "But we play each other so much and play each other all the time; it was really like being back at Chattahoochee (Golf Club) just getting another round in.
"Other than that it was kind of boring golf for me out there today -- and that's OK. I hit it well but nothing spectacular. I wasn't really close (to the pin) very much, so it was tough, hitting 15-20 foot putts."
Ralston birdied No. 9 to finish the front nine at even par and then birdied No. 13 to go under, before another birdie at 15 put him alone in first -- but a bogey putt on No. 18 ensured the playoff.
"I missed two short putts that would have been big -- on No. 6 and 18 (the only holes Ralston bogeyed), but other than that I did OK," Ralston said.
Gainesville will play host to The Invite on May 1-2 before heading to the Country Club of Columbus for the Class AAAAA finale on May 18.
"I'm really happy; we know exactly what we need to work on, and we've got a lot of people peaking at the right time," Worley said.
REGION 8-AAAAA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
Monday, April 20, at Chateau Elan, Chateau Course, Braselton
TEAM RESULTS
Boys
1. Gainesville, 291
2. Flowery Branch, 331
3. Apalachee, 333
4. Loganville, 347
5. Lanier, 381
6. Salem, 389
7. Winder-Barrow, 402
8. Cedar Shoals, 416
9. Heritage, 422
10. Clarke Central, 519
Girls
1. Winder-Barrow, 281
2. Gainesville, 298
3. Flowery Branch, 331
4. Lanier, 341
5. Clarke Central, 383
6. Cedar Shoals, 426
7. Salem, 533
INDIVIDUAL
Boys Top 10
1. Spencer Ralston, Gainesville, 70*
2. Nathan Williams, Gainesville, 70
3. Brady Holcomb, Gainesville, 74
4. Davis Weaver, Gainesville, 77
5. James Hughes, Lanier, 78
tie, Lawson King, Gainesville, 78
7. Ryan Hogan, Gainesville, 79
tie, Jay Salvaggio, Apalachee, 79
9. Tanner Merck, Flowery Branch, 81
10. Deuce Gibbs, Flowery Branch, 82
tie, Alden Jackson, Flowery Branch, 82
Girls Top 5
1. Ashleigh Bishop, Gainesville, 78
2. Savannah Rainbolt, Winder-Barrow, 79
3. Niquole Mangal, Lanier, 80
4. Macie Hurst, Flowery Branch, 90
5. Meghan Bramblett, Winder-Barrow, 98
*-finished low medalist by virtue of sudden-death playoff
