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Williamstown golfers LKC champs; Wirt golfers finish 1-2

By Kerry Patrick 6 min read

ELIZABETH - One person's misfortune was another's fortune during Monday's Little Kanawha Conference Golf Tournament at Mingo Bottom Golf Course.

Wirt County freshmen Jude Walker and Titus Smith finished 1-2 among the individual leaderboard, while the Williamstown program ended a lengthy drought and captured the team title by a margin of four strokes over the runner-up Tigers.

Of the 10 members on the all-tourney team, three belonged to the Yellowjackets - Madilyn Buttrey (77), Wyatt Siley (78) and Castyn Burton (80).

"It has been probably the early 2000s since Williamstown won," Williamstown coach Rich Siley said. "It's finally starting to come together. All my players kept it together and bzttled back with pars after bad shots. That is what we are trying to get them to do because it is regional time next week."

Walker and Smith, along with Ritchie County's Carson Hall were neck and neck as the chase for individual medalist wound down to the final few holes.

Playing in adjoining groups, Walker and Smith both bogeyed the 17th hole. On the 18th, Walker became extremely meticulous studying his chip shot and the ensuing short put, which he drained for birdie to close out his round at 1-over par 73.

Still on the course with two holes remaining, Hall owned a one-stroke lead over Walker and three shots over Smith, who were both in the clubhouse finished with their rounds and now spectators waiting.

Walker immediately walked over to the driving range pending a possible playoff. Hall remained at even par through 17 holes and one up on Walker.

Many minutes passed before Hall's double-par 8 on hole No. 4 went live. Learning of the news, Walker put his clubs away as medalist of the LKC Tournament.

"I was just trying to stay loose and see what happened," Walker said. "I really wanted to get to a playoff with (Hall). That just stinks what happened to him.

Playing on his home course, Walker bogeyed three of his first four holes. However, he turned his game around and during one stretch on the front nine, he birdied three of seven holes and made the turn at 1-over.

"I was definitely grinding - I definitely felt like I didn't have my best stuff," Walker said. "I was happy where it ended up. This gives me confidence going against some of the older kids."

Hall placed in a tie for third at 76 with Wahama's Nate Harris and marked the first time the Ritchie County senior earned a spot on the all-tourney team. He was very candid about how his round played out.

"On that last hole, some unfortunate stuff happened - I made mistakes and I will learn from my mistakes, and I will learn from those mistakes because of that," said Hall, who returns to Mingo Bottom GC for regionals next Monday. "Today was a great round. I played really well. I was banging putts, left and right. I couldn't miss. Even my misses were still good."

Another freshman stepped up for Wirt County as Smith played 1-under over his final 11 holes and finished runner-up at 75.

"Today, I just wanted to hit the ball to the best of my ability and see what the outcome was,," Smith said. "I wasn't hitting bad on the front nine - I just gained a little bit of confidence on the back. I kind of got my momentum going."

At one point on the back nine, a fourth individual - Williamstown's Buttrey — made a run at the leaders and was 1-over for her round through 11 holes. She eventually tied St. Marys' Trevor Maley for fifth place at 77 and recognized for the low female round of the meet.

"I would say I had two bad holes that cost my round and kept it from being amazing," said Buttrey, who closed out her senior year with three straight LKC all-tournament finishes. "I had a lot of holes that saved me. I had a lot of putts that saved me. So I would say I played pretty well today.

"As a team, we knew if we all played consistent we would be close to being one of the top teams. And I think that's what we did. All of us played solid golf and it just added up to a win."

For next week's regional meet, Buttrey returns to the site where she won a girls state title last season and placed on the all-tourney team a fourth year in a row at the Links at Woodridge in Mineral Wells.

"This is a great confidence booster," Wyatt Siley said. "Our team feels great where we are at now.

"Today, I hit the ball pretty well. I couldn't putt, but I made some at the end."

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

At Mingo Bottom Golf Course

Team Standings: 1. Williamstown 321; 2. Wirt County 325; 3. St. Marys 331; 4. Gilmer County 345; 5. Tyler Consolidated 340; 6. (tie) Wahama and Ritchie County 353; 8. South Harrison 374; 9. (tie) Roane County and Doddridge County 381; 11. Webster County 390; 12. Calhoun County 422; 13. Braxton County 448; 14. Buffalo 451; 15. Ravenswood 454

All-Tournament Team: 1. Jude Walker, Wirt, 73; 2. Titus Smith, Wirt, 75; 3. (tie) Carson Hall, Ritchie, and Nate Harris, Wahama, 76; 5. (tie) Madilyn Buttrey, Williamstown, and Trevor Maley, St. Marys, 77; 7. Wyatt Siley, Williamstown, 78; 8. Troy Woodford, Gilmer, 79; 9. (tie) Castyn Burton, Williamstown, and John Mace, Tyler Consolidated, 80

Williamstown: Wyatt Siley 78, Madilyn Buttrey 77, Castyn Burton 80, Ben Raines 86, Layne Stewart 103

Wirt County: Jude Walker 73, Titus Smith 75, JJ Smith 85, Kate Dotson 92, Lucas Curfman 107

St. Marys: Trevor Maley 77, Tripp Morrison 81, Zach Roush 85, Tyler Rinard 92, Desmond Parks 88

Gilmer County: Troy Woodford 79, Tyler Ratliff 81, Jeren Hutchins 86, Landon Hartshorn 107, Rhys Clum 99

Tyler Consolidated: John Mace 80, Xavier Kanz 85, Collin King 90, Cade Heintzman 91, Chase Camerlin 91

Wahama: Nate Harris 76, Briar Johnson 92, Parker Jodon 95, Lukas Woodall 91, Crysu Rickard 94

Ritchie County: Carson Hall 76, Jacob White 88, Bentley Myers 92, Johnathan Freeland 99, William Martin 97

South Harrison: Erisson Welch 88, Christian Freeman 93, Cohen Wilfong 118, Mason Belcastro 94, Bryce Messenger 99

Roane County: Wattson Nichols 107, Ben Nichols 94, Erik Starcher 97, Atticus Lance 93, Colt Jett 97

Doddridge County: Cooper Hall 85, Porter Kelley 94, Lucas Hutson 92, Carson Bever 114, Tristan Swiger 110

Webster County: Maddox Brown 94, Brady Lilly 96, Spencer Baird 102, Joston Lewis 105, Owen Hanshaw 98

Calhoun County: Paisley Cummings 102, Remedy Riddel 100, Coby Staples 98, Alex Starcher 122, Evan Burch 139

Braxton County: Christian Gum 96, Max Clemento 120, Noah Harris 125, Nevaeh Flint 107, Haygen Smyth 128

Buffalo: Wesley Mallett 104, Elias Turner 101, Carson Shock 120, Ethan Torman 126

Ravenswood: Joseph Casto 94, Jake McCoy 113 , Finn Meade 113, Michael Sayre 134

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