Monday March 18th, 2024 11:29PM

Golf: Gainesville boys scorch links in Big Red Shootout

GAINESVILLE — Bryson Worley used to believe there was no such thing as a spring break -- not for his golfers.

"I used to pound them, pound them, pound them (over spring break), but I've changed as a coach, and I wanted some of our guys to actually get away from golf for a week," said Worley, the Gainesville boys coach. 

"The break did us good."

Indeed, a rested Red Elephants squad stormed around their home course on Monday, claiming the Big Red Shootout title at Chattahoochee Golf Club in what might have been a tournment record.

"I'm going to have to comb through the records, but it might have been," said Worley, whose team recorded a 157 in the tournament that utilizes a Modified Stableford scoring format that awards points for performance, rather than counting strokes. "In all we shot even par as a team if you were counting strokes -- a 288 is pretty good."

Gainesville's Ryan Hogan led all golfers on Monday, carding a 45 for low medalist honors. The senior was followed by Davis Weaver's 42 and a pair of 35s from Zayne Hildebrand and Andrew Hughes, as the Red Elephants won the tournament for the third time in its 14th edition.

North Forsyth finished second with a 143, while Cambridge was third with a 135. Milton carded a 123; Habersham Central followed with a 116. Buford (109) and North Hall (86) also competed.

"It was a good field, with a lot of good players; defending state champ (6A) Harrison wasn't there because we had to reschedule this from earlier in the season, but it was still a good field, and we're really happy with what we saw," Worley said. "We didn't putt very well -- the greens were kind of bumpy, but that's how it is this time of year. But our ball-striking was very good."

With five more varsity matches remaining on the schedule (plus the state meet, should Gainesville qualify), the Red Elephants hope that this was just the beginning of a strong finish to the campaign.

"It's going to ramp up from here against some really good fields," Worley said. "We've only lost to two teams so far this season, Mt. Bethel and Mill Creek, but we're shooting good scores, and we have some depth -- and we can still improve; that's the exciting thing. I'd like to see us get a little bit more consistent and go low. But I'm really happy with today."

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