Albany golfers bring home state bronze

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions may not have gotten the prize they wanted at the Class 2A boys state golf tournament, but they definitely got a prize.

After starting the final round in second place, the Lions held on to take third in the team standings, finishing a stroke ahead of hard-charging Sonora.

“It feels good,” Lions coach Tate Thompson said of collecting a trophy and medals. “It’s not as good as it would be with a silver medal, but it still feels good.”

The Lions shot a team score of 306-332–638 at the tournament, played Monday-Tuesday, May 22-23, at Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin, to finish 21 shots back of Lindsay and nine back of New Home.

The finish was Albany’s best at state in three decades. Over three consecutive appearances from 1992 to 1994, Albany twice lost playoffs after tying for third. It marks the second time this school year an Albany team has claimed a UIL state trophy.

Defending champion Lindsay (303-314–617) led wire to wire in beating New Home (308-321–629). Sonora, behind individual medalist Dylan Ford, shot 321-318–639.

The Lions were led by Lute Wheeler, who tied for ninth individually at 75-78–153. Freshman Huffman Heatly (76-83–159) finished 20th with Ayden Balliew (79-82–161) tied for 22nd, Luke Marshall (76-90–166) in 27th and Houston Heatly (89-89–178) in 46th.

Albany wasn’t the only team to fall back in the second round. Sonora, Weimar and Grapeland were the only teams to shoot better scores in the second round than they did in the first. Only two of the top 20 individuals improved their scores on Tuesday.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” Thompson said. “They scoot the tees back an average of probably 20 to 25 yards on every hole, the par-4s especially.”

Adding to that was the heat and the fact the Lions had to finish on the more demanding back nine after starting Monday’s round on No. 10.

“I think fatigue got us on Tuesday,” Thompson said. “On championship day, the ones who can battle fatigue and handle the mental and physical anguish of it are going to win. We gave ourselves a cushion and could afford to slip a little, but we just never put it together on Tuesday.”

Albany put itself squarely in contention Monday with a season-low team score to sit three back of Lindsay and two up on New Home. The 306 was the Lions’ best round of the year, eclipsing the 313 shot in the final round of the Region II-2A tournament. It was 52 strokes better than Albany’s first-round score at state last year.

“The guys did well with course management Monday, and it really paid off,” Thompson said.

Thompson credited the experience gained at state last year with enabling the Lions to avoid falling further back.

“That experience was a big key,” he said. “Most of these guys have been here before, and it was a good experience for Huffman. These guys are going to have two years of experience at state next year.”

Thompson said the ­Lions came a long way from where they started to reach the awards stand.

“When we started out in February,” he said, “we were consistently in the 330s, 340s, and that was the best we could do, then the guys started understanding things. Each of them has a different game, swings differently, has different strengths. They started honing those strengths and getting better at places they weren’t doing very well.”

Perhaps most notable, Thompson said, was that Albany didn’t rely on one outstanding player to carry the load every round. All five players figured into the team score at state.

“Each week ended up with different guys stepping up and contributing,” Thompson said. “That was huge. I’m really proud of them.”