The 5A South Golf Tournament tees off Tuesday morning at the Pine Bluff Country Club. For El Dorado girls’ coach Chris Ezell, he’s never had an easier time selecting a lineup. He doesn’t worry about which three scores will count in the team total.
The Lady Wildcats’ roster has consisted of three names all season - Daphny Chen, Lucy Whitten and Avelyn Chen.
That’s it. That’s the list. And Ezell thinks it’s strong enough to contend for one of the top spots in the conference.
“Only having three girls means that all of their scores count in every event. We don't have the fourth person to be able to toss out a bad round,” he said.
“The girls have a strong chance to be one of the top three teams. Lakeside has a strong top two in Jaden Johnson and Payton Bourland that will make them the ones to beat for the conference title. Benton has been our closest battles scoring-wise. We have beat them and they beat us by narrow margins. We didn't see full rosters of all the conference teams this year so Sheridan, White Hall and Lake Hamilton are relatively unknowns for us.”
Daphny Chen had a personal best 88 at Magnolia earlier this month. Whitten and Avelyn Chen have both dropped their scoring averages over 10 strokes from freshman year to this year.
“That's a 20 point decrease in the team score in one year,” noted Ezell. “Our girls have shown some strong play throughout the season with each of them setting new PR low scores this season. All golfers have good rounds and bad rounds. The key will be for them to all have a good day when it counts the most.”
As is the case in every golf tournament, staying out of trouble on the course will be paramount for the Lady Wildcats. The course will have several holes with water in play.
“The key for success will be avoiding the penalty strokes and focus on our putting to keep from 3-putting,” said Ezell. “The course is set up very similar to the El Dorado Golf & Country Club. We are spending our practice time over there this week to better prepare our team.”
Tee time Tuesday is 10 a.m.