Wendy's SportsBytes on WKDZ

Sutherland finishes tied for 15th at D-III championship

Bradley Sutherland finished tied for 15th at the NCAA Division III Golf Championships in Braselton, Georgia Friday.  The junior from Transylvania shot a 7-over 78 to finish at 16-over par -- 15 shots behind the winner.

As a team, Transy finished in 11th place, 42 shots behind the winner St. Johns (Minnesota).

Sutherland's round included seven bogeys and 11 pars on the Chateau Course at the Chateau Elan Golf Club.  He was 11 shots better than teammate Corey Maggard.

Click HERE to see Bradley's scorecard from all four days

Bradley Sutherland in the top 10 heading into final day

Transylvania golfer Bradley Sutherland remains in the top 10 of the NCAA Division III Golf Championships near Atlanta.

Sutherland shot a 3-over par 74 on the Chateau Course Thursday, which puts him in a tie for ninth place at nine shots over par.  He is 12 shots behind the leader, Scott Harris of St. John Fisher College.

Suthlerland had another consistent round Thursday, with a birdie and two bogeys in the first 16 holes.  He carded a double-bogey on the 17th hole and finished with a par on the 18th for a 3-over 74.

He is scheduled to tee off at 12:40pm (ET) on the Chateau Course at the Chateau Elan Course in Braselton, Georgia.  Sutherland has shot a combined 3-over par in two previous rounds on the 7,030 yard Chateau Course.

As a team, Transylvania is in 11th place, some 30 shots behind St. John Fisher College.  However, four teams are just 12 shots ahead of Transy in the top 10.

Sutherland tied for 44th after first day at D-III Golf Championship

Transylvania University golfer Bradley Sutherland is tied for 44th place after the first day of the NCAA Division III Golf Championship in Atlanta.

Sutherland shot a 6-over 77 on the par-71 Woodlands Course.  He began the round with eight straight pars before a bogey on nine gave him a front nine score of 37.  Three bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine gave him a score of 40.

Sutherland's round was the best for a Transy player and helped the Pioneers rank 19th of 35 teams after the first day.  They need to finish in the top 25 today in order to make he cut for the third round.

The Pioneers are a collective 28 shots behind the leader, LaVergne University.

Bradley Sutherland named conference player of the year

Transylvania golfer Bradley Sutherland has been named Heartland Conference Golfer of the Year after the junior won the conference tournament last week by 10 shots.

The Trigg County High graduate shot a 297 to help his team win the conference title and qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships next week in Atlanta.

Transy head coach Brian Lane was also named the conference coach of the year.

"Bradley has certainly been our most consistent player. His play in this year’s conference tournament, with the very windy conditions, was exceptional," Lane said.  "He was the only player in the field to break the 300 stroke mark.  We are extremely proud of Bradley and his accomplishments this year. He has shown that he can compete against the best golfers in the country in the NCAA Division I, II and III."

Click HERE to listen to more comments from Lane on Sutherland

It was the second straight conference title for the Pioneers, who now qualify for the D-3 championships next week which will be hosted by Emory College.  The tournament will be held May 13-16 at the Chateau Elan Resort near Atlanta. The nation's top 35 teams and five individuals will compete in the event.

Last year, Sutherland finished 11th in the national championships and earned second-team All-American honors.

The complete interview with Lane can be heard on the Saturday Morning Sports Report this week at 8:10am on WKDZ-FM.

Tyler Mitchell signs national letter of intent to play golf at Charlotte

Tyler Mitchell (center) signs a national letter of intent to play golf at the University of Charlotte.  The ceremoney was held at midfield during halftime of Trigg County's playoff football game with Heath.  Mitchell is the first Trigg golfer to sign to play at a Division-I school.  Also pictured is TCHS golf coach Jim Garnett, Tyler's father Butch Mitchell, TCHS athletic director Doug Gloyd, and TCHS principal Neal Cummins.  (photo by Monty Stagner).

Tyler Mitchell signed a national letter of intent to play golf at the University of Charlotte, becoming the first Trigg County golfer to sign to play at a Division I University.

Mitchell wrapped up his senior season at TCHS with a third place finish in the Region I Golf Tournament, losing the chance to qualify for the state meet on a tie-breaker.

The TCHS senior has played in several prestigious golf tournaments over the years, including the U.S. Junior Amateur Tournament in Missouri over the summer.

Other schools showing interest in Tyler included Kentucky, Memphis, and Murray State.

Charlotte is the number one team in Division I college golf, having won all four match play tournaments they have appeared in this year.  It's the first time a 49er sports program has been ranked number one in the nation.

Mitchell becomes the second Trigg County boys' golfer to play at the college level in recent years, joining former Wildcat teammate Bradley Sutherland, who is at Transylvania.

Comment on the Marshall County golf appeal

From time to time, people submit comments to posts that appear on the blog.  They are encouraged and can be viewed under the post and on the right menu.

Justin McGill, former sports editor of the Cadiz Record who now works with the Benton Tribune Courier, sent this comment about the KHSAA decision earlier this week to give Marshall County the state championship trophy back after they had been stripped of the title for using an ineligible player.

I figure SportsBytes readers can't get any better information on this situation than from a Trigg Countian transplanted to Marshall County, so here's how this whole thing looked from my point of view.

In May, a junior golfer transfered from a school in Florida to MCHS. This golfer did not compete in any school sports as a sophomore, simply because his previous school did not offer any sports. He played at another school his freshman year, and that team won the Florida golf championship in its class that season, but KHSAA rules state a transfer is eligible if he/she didn't play at the sending school the season before the transfer, so there's where the appeal came in. And there was absolutely no question that his transfer was legitimate - his mother was from here and moved home a year earlier with her daughter, and the son joined them this year. There was considerable confusion and miscommunication between the school and KHSAA concerning the paperwork in question - were they supposed to send in the form or not? On the form itself, the school is directed NOT to send it to KHSAA if the student meets the transfer requirements, which was the case in this instance.

Face to face, at least one administrator was told by a KHSAA official that everything was in order for this student - so says the administrator, at least. In the end, MCHS administrators had to take the fall for some of this, and that's how it all shook out after the appeal. It's how it should have happened in the first place - none of those student-athletes did anything wrong, and to punish them for what amounted to an administrative error (and it was a borderline error, in my opinion) was simply wrong.

That's my take.

JUSTIN MCGILL

Thanks Justin, and I agree with the last paragraph of his comment.  The school and not the players should be held accountable for the mistake.  Of course, the KHSAA does not have a great track record when it comes to consistency.  If I recall, it was the players who suffered in 2002 when Trigg County was declared to have played too many games -- an administrative error it was called at the time -- and their postseason was cancelled. 

I have no beef with Marshall County.  The golfers got the job done at the region level and at the state level.  The kid was deemed eligible to play when the season began and the KHSAA should have stuck to their guns instead of rescinding the title.

But had the vote went against the Marshals, they would not have been the first team to suffer because of an administrative error.  And that's where the problem lies.

As always, your comments and e-mails are welcome either by clicking on the comment link or sending them to sbrown@wkdzradio.com.

Marshall County reclaims state golf title

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has reversed their previous decision and again awarded the state golf title to Marshall County.

The Marshals were stripped of the title when it was discovered that a transfer had played on a high school team in Florida.  Apparently, Marshall County didn't file the necessary paperwork with the KHSAA before the season, which resulted in their penalty.

At a hearing Wednesday, the KHSAA called the issue "unique" and gave Marshall County the state championship back.  However, the school was fined $5,000, placed on two years' probation, and will not be allowed to open their season until after Aug. 10.

HERE IS A COPY OF THE KHSAA PRESS RELEASE (pdf)

I'm not sure how the Marshall County situation is "unique" when compared to other schools who haven't submitted paperwork.  Trigg County got stung by the paperwork issue a couple of years ago when Lexi Estes transferred to Trigg from Marshall County.  Then TCHS athletic director Taylor Sparks said he could not locate the paperwork to file with the KHSAA when Estes decided to move back to Marshall County.  Marshall County could not find the original paperwork, which would have helped Trigg County.  As a result, Trigg had to forfeit two basketball games Estes played in that season before her move back to Marshall County.

Again, I'm not sure of the "unique" circumstances that come into play here. 

Sholar, Morris compete at long drive golf event

Trigg County's Jackie Sholar advanced past the first round of the Re/Max Long Drive Competition in Nevada last week, but could go no further.

Sholar competed in the senior division of the event, held in Mesquite, Nevada.  In the first round held Wednesday, Sholar advanced with the long drive of the round, 358 yards.  In the second round, he tied for the long drive at 337 yards.  However, he didn't advance when his drives in the next round were out of bounds.

On Friday, Mike Morris competed in the Open Division and hit his drive 350 yards, which was sixth-best in his group and 17 yards short of advancing to the next round.

First place in the Open Division took home $125,000.

Trigg region golf results

We've documented how Tyler Mitchell fared in the Region I Golf Tournament, just missing out on a trip to the state tournament.

Derek Rogers tied for 43rd place with a score of 91, while Caleb Bush shot a 102, Nick Choate a 104, and Preston Metts a 119.

Trigg finished in 12th place with a score of 367.

On Monday, Karli Bush finished in 48th place with a score of 131.  Caldwell County eighth grader Emma Talley scorched the course with a tournament record 8-under 64 to win the region title.

Mitchell ties for third at golf regional

Tyler Mitchell put together a consistent round of golf that would have been good enough to win the region meet in past years.  However, it wasn't quite enough to earn the Trigg County senior a berth in the state meet.

Mitchell tied for third place after shooting an even-par 70 at the Region I Golf Tournament Tuesday at the Mayfield Country Club.  Mitchell was in a group of four players vying for the final qualifying spot in next week's state tournament in Bowling Green, but lost on the third playoff hole.

His round consisted of a birdie on #1, a bogey on #3, and 16 pars, which was three shots behind the winner and five shots better than St. Mary's Case Cochran, the two-time defending state champion who was playing in his group.

The golfers had to endure a day of rain that even halted the match at one point.  None of that rain found its way to Trigg County.

The top two teams qualified golfers for the state meet, but the two golfers ahead of Mitchell weren't on those teams which left him on the outside looking in.  That is an obvious rule that needs to be changed and allow the top five golfers not on the top two teams into the state meet.

While the finish at the region meet is a disapointment for Tyler, the past few weeks have been busy and fulfilling.

Tyler has committed to play golf at the University of Charlotte, according to Tyler's father Butch Mitchell.  Memphis and Kentucky were two other schools hot on the trail of the Trigg golfer before Tyler settled on Charlotte recently.

Charlotte is the number one team in Division I college golf after a pair of victories in their first two events of the 2007-08 season.  It's the first time a 49er sports program has been ranked number one in the nation.

Mitchell becomes the second Trigg County boys' golfer to play at the college level in recent years, joining former Wildcat teammate Bradley Sutherland, who is at Transylvania.