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Poplar Bluff golfers look to build on program's history
Now that they’re Missouri Sports Hall of Famers, Poplar Bluff golfers look to add to the program’s rich history this spring.
Like everybody else around the state, the Mules return after a lost season due to the COVID-19 pandemic eager to compete at again.
“You can see the work they’ve done,” Mules coach Billy Pyland said.
In their first 18-hole test, Pyland said the team broke 310 and that all five varsity players can shoot in the 70s consistently.
Alex Wiseman, a junior, returns as the top player after leading the team in the 2019 district tournament as a freshman.
Jack Pierce, the lone senior on the roster, and junior Ian Martinez were also on the varsity roster the last time the Mules took the course.
Paul Innes, a junior, and freshman Lawson Barks have moved into the starting lineup.
“They all hit it long,” Pyland said. “They hit their irons long, everything long.”
The team has been working on its short game, Pyland added, and the mental aspect of the game.
The group listens very well, he added.
As an example, Pyland recalled how during a recent practice a player faced a shot among some trees in front of water that required a dangerous 50-yard hook shot.
“We don’t do that,” Pyland said of unnecessary risks.
The Mules open the season March 29 with the Notre Dame Invitational at Dalhousie Country Club and will host their own tournament April 12 at Westwood Hills Country Club.
The conference tournament will be held May 3 with the MSHSAA district tournament a week later at a site to be determined.
The road to the state tournament will be different this season in that there will not be automatic qualification for teams. Only the top 18 individuals, including ties, will advance to state. The team with the lowest score will still claim the district title, but only teams that advance four or five players among those top 18 individuals will be able to compete as a team at state.
Team scores are made up by the best four scores with the fifth only used as a tiebreaker. By advancing only four players to state, a team will have less room for error.
Districts assignments have yet to be released, but the Mules will likely end up in the largest class, Class 5, with the state tournament set for Sedalia Country Club on May 17-18.
The Mules have won six state championships in golf among 19 top-four finishes at the MSHSAA championship tournaments. Poplar Bluff has produced 27 players that have earned all-state honors, including four individual state champions.
Poplar Bluff became the first high school boys golf program to be honored by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame with its induction in January.
Pyland said the honor did not translate into more students coming out for the team this spring.
The roster also includes juniors Gatlin Taylor and Caleb Hosler, sophomores Nick Gallamore, Madelyn Hefner, Lauren Hamilton, Jarryn Anderson and freshmen Mason West and Kameron Glick.
Hefner and Hamilton must compete off the same tees as the boys during junior varsity play.