LaGRANGE, Ga. — It promises to go down to the wire in Class 3A for the boys individual golf championship on Tuesday.
After Monday’s opening round, 11 players are within five shots of the lead, including a pair of northeast Georgia area players.
North Hall's Tyler Matson and Charlie Pitts of LaGrange both shot 3-over 75s to sit just one shot behind West Laurens's Brody Graham after day 1. White County's JT Bunch fired a 78 and is within five shots of the lead.
As for the team competition, West Laurens set the pace with a 21-over 309, which has the Raiders five shots ahead of second place and host LaGrange (314). North Hall, led by Matson, is fourth with a 328 while Jefferson slid to seventh at 341.
In Class A Division 1, Banks County led the field early but would finish the opening round in fourth place, nine shots behind leader Bremen.
The Leopards fired a 47-over 335 while Bremen shot a 326 (38-over) to lead second-place Elbert County (327) by just one shot. Commerce struggled as a team, completing the opening round in 363, good for 12th place.
But the Tigers’ Will Bowen finished the day tied for second after firing a 1-over par 73. Bowen is tied with Lamar County's Everett Horne and both are just two shots back of Swainsboro's Colten Lewis, who shot a 1-under 71.
In Class 2A, Columbus shot a blistering 2-under 286 to lead the field by a wide margin. Second place Pierce County shot a 20-over 308.
Union County sits fourth at 37-over 325, but is just one shot back of third-place Thomson (324) and 11-shots ahead of fifth place Rockmart (336).
Columbus also dominated the individual tournament. Brooks Urquhart paced the Blue Devils, and the field, with a stunning 8-under 64. His Blue Devils teammates Jay Patel Columbus (72) and Boon Bickerstaff (73) sit second and third.
Hayden Price led Union County with a 6-over 78 and is tied for seventh after the first round.
In Class 5A, Bo Bowdoin of Jackson County was the only area golfer in the field. However, Bowen struggled to a 14-over 86 to be tied for 65th.
In Class 6A, Buford's Landen Karshagen was the only area golfer in the field and shot a 10-over 82 to sit well off the lead, held by Ledger Conley of Richmond Hill, who shot a 3-under 69.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/5/1291320/boys-state-golf-dogfight-expected-for-3a-individual-title