GOLF: Trinity, West Laurens fare well in latest matches, tournaments

Trinity Christian and West Laurens boys golf teams continued their strong early-season play over the past two weeks, the Crusaders picking up wins in home matches of nine and 18 holes in length, and the Raiders with strong showings at a home match and three different stroke play events around the area. 

After soundly defeating Westminster (by a final score of 154-219) to improve its record to 3-0 Thursday March 5, Trinity took advantage of the added daylight with its first full round of the campaign this past Wednesday, and pulled out an impressive four-stroke win over Gatewood back at Dublin Country Club. 

Low man John Brantley, who shot a 74 to lead the 15-man field, was backed by the 83 of Charlie Maffett, 89 of Hayden Bowles and 93 of Cole Johnson to give the Crusaders a 339-343 advantage over the Gators, led by the 78 of Mikey Padula. 

Trinity will continue its homestand against Vidalia Monday, March 23. 

West Laurens’ top golfers were put through the wringer at a set of tournaments featuring some of the state’s best, beginning with a GSGA showcase March 9-10 in Columbus.

The Raiders faced “a tough course and tough competition” during the two-day event made up of 12 high school teams: nine defending state champs and the other three runners-up in 2025. 

West (+35) finished seventh as a team, with Braceton Beasley pacing its delegation with rounds of 75 and 73 for fifth place overall. Brody Graham (81-75), Will Tribble (79-82) and Jake Harden (77-85) also placed top 30 individually. 

Last Thursday, both the Raiders’ teams matched up with Stratford Academy at Dublin Country Club. 

The boys (led by Beasley’s 34, Tribble and Harden’s 36 and Graham’s 37) won 143-191. The Eagles eeked out the narrow victory on the girls’ side by a final of 100-101. West’s Bailey Jean Logan shot a 47, and Stratford’s Ora Smith a 46, for the teams’ respective top scores. 

Saturday, the Raider boys traveled to Waynesboro for the Taylor Made Invitational, and were runner-up to Aquinas by four strokes with a team score of 293. Brody Graham and Wade Martin both shot rounds of 72 to tie for the team lead, and fifth overall individually. 

West Laurens was the only team to have all six of its golfers shoot in the 70s.  Harden (73) was 10th and Tribble (76) 14th, with Keith Howell and Lane Neal (77) tying for 16th. 

This past Monday, the Raider boys endured some “brutal weather” at Macon’s Idle Hour Country Club to finish third out of 10 teams at the Stratford Invitational. 

Beasley’s 73 was good to tie for the tournament’s top score, though the Eagles’ Will Fruitticher took low-medalist honors on regression. 

Graham and Harden had a 78 and Tribble a 79, to round out West’s 308 – which was a couple strokes back of Stratford’s 306 on the final leaderboard. Brookstone, also with a 308, took second via tiebreaker – in what head coach Whitney Alligood called “a really solid day of playing for everyone in some terrible conditions.” 

West Laurens was set to play another home match against FPD Thursday at Green Acres.