By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
With four seniors and a junior on their six-player roster, the time should be now for the W.S. Neal Blue Eagles golf team.
"We've got some experience, but we also have some inexperience with those players. In fact, one of those seniors is out for golf for the first time," W.S. Neal coach Buck Quarles said.
There is a down side to having so many upper classmen on the roster.
"We could have a tough time with numbers next year. We've only got one junior and one sophomore back next year. We tried to get some grade school players to come out and play this spring, but nobody was interested. There just doesn't appear to be a lot of golfers in this area. We could have a situation next year of not having enough for a team score (four players), but we could have individual players," Quarles said.
Senior Matt Hulley has emerged into the number one spot in the early going for the Blue Eagles.
"Matt has been hitting the ball well off the tee. He has also been doing a good job of chipping and putting. We expect a good season out of Matt. He has a pretty good golf background,"
Senior Patrick Lowery and junior Kris Andrews are battling for the number two spot in the lineup.
"Patrick has had some good moments. He had an eagle on a hole in one of our early meets. He is pretty consistent with his drives and he'll usually keep the ball in the fairways," Quarles said. "Kris is bouncing back between golf and tennis and occaisonally there will be a scheduling conflict for him. Kris is pretty good off the tee and he hits the ball down the middle. We're tying to improve his chipping and putting at this point," Quarles said.
The remaining spots in the lineup could change quite a bit throughout the season between senior Scott Clark, senior Jeremy Burch and sophomore Justin Peavy.
"With only six players, we have no competition for lineup spots but we do have competition within the lineup. The four-five-six spots will probably change quite a bit throughout the season," Quarles said. "Scott is improving, but his game still needs work. Jeremy is a first-year player so he has quite a bit to learn, but he has done O.K. so far. Justin is a young player who has potential, but needs to work on his game."
Quarles said his team will face an uphill battle in postseason.
"We have to go to Lagoon Park at Montgomery and it's a very long, tight course. There are a lot of good teams. We'll just try to keep improving between now and then and see what happens," Quarles said.
W.S. Neal Blue Eagles
Golf Schedule
Mar. 15 Monroe County Away 3 p.m.
Mar. 29 Greenville/T.R. Miller Home 1:30 p.m.
Mar. 31 Baldwin County Away 3:30 p.m.
Apr. 5 Greenville Away 1 p.m.
Apr. 13 Greenville Away 1 p.m.
Apr. 19 Monroe County Away 2 p.m.