Knights take tourney crown, McLaurin shoots 67

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

TERRE DU LAC — The MAAA Conference Tournament was held at the Terre Du Lac Country Club on Monday and when the nine teams had finished their 18-hole rounds, the Farmington Knights stood atop the nine-school standings with a score of 323. The Arcadia Valley Tigers were next in line with a 330, followed by the Fredericktown Blackcats at 346.

Arcadia Valley’s Jordan McLaurin blew away the field of 51 golfers with a five-under 67, 12 strokes ahead of the nearest golfer. McLaurin birdied six out of the 18 holes, starting with No. 4 making the swing of three straight on No. 9, 10, and 11, before finishing out with birds on 15 and 17. A tree limb on the No. 6, a  dog-leg to the left, gave McLaurin his only bogey.

“That’s a hard hole for a left-hander,” said McLaurin. “I only had a four-foot window to get by that tree, and I clipped the branch instead.”

Farmington’s win came by way of a very tight group scoring. From top to bottom there was only seven strokes between the players. Alex Rhodes, who tied for second-place honors with a 79, was low man for the Knights. Gene Williams took fourth in the tournament with an 81, followed by an 82 from Sam Effrin and an 83 by Branden Gallagher.

Landen Barks shot an 85 and John Schnurbusch came in with an 86. Even though the two players’ total scores were not used for the team score, Schnurbusch’s 41 on the back nine was used . Team scores were calculated by the best four scores on the front nine added to the best four scores on the back nine (See scores below).

The top 10 golfers received All-Conference honors. Tying Rhodes for second-place with a 79 was Matt Ward of Fredericktown. Effrin’s 82 earned him a tie for fifth with Logan Royer of Fredericktown, Chris Spitzmiller of North County and Zach Gibson of Potosi, and Gallagher tied with Chase Bennett of Arcadia Valley for ninth place was the cut-off score of 83.

Needing to get in a conference match, the Valle Warriors and the  Knights used their first nine hole scores of the tournament. Farmington won the dual match 161-192.

Team Scores —

1. Farmington - 323

Alex Rhodes  40-39 - 79

Gene Williams  40-41- 81

Sam Effrin  41-41 - 82

Branden Gallagher  40-43 - 83

Landon Barks  43-42 - 85

John Schnurbusch  45-41 - 86

2. Arcadia Valley - 330

Jordan McLaurin  35-32 - 67

Chase Bennett  42-41 - 83

Brock Walker  46-44 - 90

Blake Walker  45-45 - 90

Caleb Sutton  47-46 - 93

Aaron Strange  50-55 - 105

3. Fredericktown - 346

Matt Ward  40-39 - 79

Logan Royer  39-43 - 82

Kaleb Francis  48-45 - 93

Kyle Polete  46-47 - 93

Logan Ward  48-47 - 95

Jerod Williams  47-49 - 96

4t. Potosi - 353

Zach Gibson  39-43 - 82

Seth Gibson  44-44 - 88

John Cozort  47-43 - 90

Wade Pashia  47-49 - 96

Madison Smith  48-48 - 96

Nathan Portell  52-46 - 98

4t. Central - 353

Rolin Baker  43-41 - 84

Taylor Gray  41-43 - 84

Cody Barnett  45-43 - 88

Garrett Mahurin  49-48 - 97

John Bowers  56-49 - 105

6. West County - 374

Cameron Williams  46-41 - 87

Torey Watson  45-45 - 90

Coy McKee  46-47 -93

Jake Nicholson  53-51 -104

K. Nations  56-51 - 107

Ethan McCoy  54-54 - 108

7. North County - 377

Chris Spitzmiller  41-41 - 82

Cameron Claywell  46-47 - 93

John Woods  47-51 - 98

Josh Inman  50-54 - 104

Brandon Moore  59-63 - 122

8. Valle - 392

Nick Trautman  46-49 - 95

Kellen Bader  47-49 - 96

Kory Donze  47-49 - 96

Nicholas Joggerst  52-53 - 105

Nolan Weiler  55-57 - 112

Casey Klump  57-62 - 119

9. Ste. Genevieve - 419

John Sexauer  47-53 - 100

Kyle Arnold  50-50 - 100

Kevin Klein  55-53 - 108

Ethan Braun  54-57 - 111

Torey Herzog  58-59 - 117