Defending champion Ryan O’Rear isn’t leading, sister Taylor O’Rear struggled, Craig Little, Haley Kemp and Rachel VanHoozer turned in solid efforts, and every other Salado golfer grinded their way around Roy Kizer Golf Course on Monday.
After playing through an off-an-on drizzle, the Salado boys are just two shots back of two-time defending champion Edgewood while the Lady Eagles are in sixth place, 57 strokes behind defending champion Wall, heading into today’s final round.
“We didn’t play badly enough to not get in the top four,” Salado coach Bobby Peschel said about the boys’ performance. “I’d like to have scored a little better, but we’re in the top four, which is where we need to be.
“As for the girls, we’re young. We’ve been up-and-down since district. We had our two sophomores (Kemp and VanHoozer) come through and hopefully (in the final round) we’ll get a chance to post some solid scores.”
Ryan O’Rear shot a 2-over-par 73, ending his string of four straight under-par rounds in tournament play, and is three strokes behind John Duke Hudson of Sonora and one back of Daingerfield’s Jade Scott. Both players finished two strokes behind O’Rear last year.
Asked if he was satisfied with a 73 in the difficult conditions, O’Rear replied: “Not at all. It was a rough day. I never really got anything going. There were a lot of bogeys and not very many birdies.”
O’Rear made only two birdies and finds himself alone in third. Last year, he led by a stroke heading into the final round, but he’ll need to rally to retain his title.
“I’m just going to have play a lot better,” said O’Rear, who finished fourth as a freshman. “I have to throw up a low number and see what happens.”
Jared Hahn - who didn’t hit a fairway off the tee until the second nine - shot 81 for Salado, and Tyler Pines had an 82 and Tom Baine an 88.
But it was Little’s career-best 82 that nearly put the Eagles atop the leaderboard.
“I was hitting everything really good,” said Little, who began playing just two years ago because all of his friends were. “I was hitting it within 15 yards of where I wanted it to go. The only mistakes I made were in my decision-making. I hit the wrong club a couple times and I missed a couple big putts.”
Added Peschel about his No. 5 golfer: “He’s been putting in a lot of time since regionals. An 82 is not surprising because he has a really good swing.”
Freshman Taylor O’Rear had some wayward shots and posted a 94. She endured double bogeys on consecutive holes on the front nine and had two triple bogeys on the back.
“My ball striking wasn’t too phenomenal today,” Taylor O’Rear said. “I hit my driver well and found a lot of fairways, but I missed some short birdie putts.”
Kemp, a sophomore who is the only Lady Eagle to compete in last year’s state tournament, shot an 89. Sophomore VanHoozer led the team with an 88 and freshman Brennan Boydstun had a 108. Freshman Hadley Joiner missed the first round after coming down with mononucleosis over the weekend.
“I was pretty pleased with myself with the rain and everything going on,” said Kemp, who shot rounds of 94 and 96 in last year’s state tourney. “My drives weren’t as good as I would have liked, but everything else made up for it.”
Posting her best score since an 86 on Feb. 14, Kemp said having a year of state experience paid dividends on Monday.
“I wasn’t as nervous,” she said. “I think I was more relaxed to where I could really focus on my game instead of being so focused on ‘Wow, I’m actually at state as a freshman.’”
While the Lady Eagles are likely out of contention for their fourth team title in the last seven years, the boys team understands what it will take to bring home their first team title since 1985.
“All of our guys didn’t play as well as they could, which is a good sign,” Ryan O’Rear said. “If everybody plays a little better, we’re going to be right there.”
