Last year, Seth Garner came within a playoff of two consecutive State Amateur golf championship. This year, he looks to win the first of the Arkansas State Golf Association's two majors at his home club.
Garner, 2012 Lakeside High and recent Arkansas State graduate, tries for his second State Am title in three years today through Sunday on the Arlington Course at Hot Springs Country Club.
By three strokes, Garner put his name on the list of champions in 2014 at Texarkana Country Club, getting in after one of the entries dropped out. In last year's State Am at Country Club of Little Rock, Austin Eoff of Benton, the first-team all-Big Ten selection at Purdue, bested Garner and Fort Smith's Bryon Shumate in extra holes after finishing at 1 over par.
Garner comes into this tournament on the right foot, initiating his post-grad career with a victory in the ASGA's Relyance Bank Classic May 20 and 21 at HSCC. He shot 2-under 70 the first round on the Park Course before firing 5-under 67 on the Arlington, winning by three shots.
Garner has plenty of other HSCC victories, pairing up with father Loel to win the past three Monk Wade Father & Son championships (this year's event is Aug. 1 and 2 at Centennial Valley Country Club in Conway). The younger Garner's first act out of high school was winning the HSCC club championship.
Now he looks to dethrone Eoff as well as several rivals from the host city, almost all Lakeside grads from this decade. Cameron McRae, Garner's ASU teammate this past season, was second in the Relyance Bank Classic, shooting 70 both rounds.
McRae's biggest accomplishment on the Arlington was reaching U.S. Open sectionals through last year's local qualifier, becoming the first Lakeside product to make it that far in the U.S. Open process.
Brice Howard and Drew Greenwood, both completing their Henderson State careers, each have Great American Conference triumphs on the Arlington. Greenwood won last year's GAC medal and Howard this year, the latter putting up a league- and school-best score for the event.
Howard, son of HSCC general manager/director of golf Barry Howard, also came within a playoff of sectional qualifying during this year's U.S. Open local qualifier May 10. Greenwood won the 2014 ASGA Match Play on The Greens at North Hills in Sherwood.
Other local competitors include 1998 ASGA Match Play champion Lee Hiers, Wesley Harris from the same Lakeside class as Garner and Greenwood, Cutter Morning Star product Neriah Brown in his first State Am and Kyle Thompson of Hot Springs Village. The field also includes player-of-the-year leader Kerry Lott of Dardanelle and Arkansas Golf Hall of Famer Wes McNulty of White Hall.
Each older division has multiple local representatives, starting with Monte Griffin of Hot Springs and Timothy Burke of Hot Springs Village among the mid-seniors. Bruce Upton and Ronnie Johnson, both of Hot Springs, and HSV's Fred Stamey will compete for the senior crown, and the super seniors contain Charlie Angel and Tom Weathers, both of Hot Springs, and Oscar Taylor and Joe Bushee, both of Hot Springs Village.
Taylor has won super senior player of the year the last two years.
Arkansas State Golf Association
State Amateur Championship
Hot Springs Country Club
Arlington Course, Par: 72
Tee times (Today/Saturday)
Amateur division
10:48 a.m./1:39 p.m. -- Ben Davis, Texarkana; Lee Hiers, Hot Springs; Michael Wharton-Palmer, Texarkana
10:57 a.m./1:30 p.m. -- Matthew Cole, Fayetteville; Drew Greenwood, Hot Springs; Chris Jenkins, Little Rock
11:06 a.m./1:21 p.m. -- Stan Payne, Little Rock; Price Murphree, Camden; Cameron McRae, Hot Springs
11:15 a.m./1:12 p.m. -- Peyton Wilhoit, Searcy; Carson Roberts, Conway; Brice Howard, Hot Springs
11:24 a.m./1:03 p.m. -- Tyler Reynolds, Little Rock; Austin Eoff, Benton; Wes McNulty, White Hall
11:33 a.m./12:54 p.m. -- Wesley Harris, Hot Springs; Andrew Mayes, Little Rock; Bryon Shumate, Fort Smith
11:42 a.m./12:45 p.m. -- Kerry Lott, Dardanelle; Stephen Cox, Jonesboro; Mark Graham, Fort Smith
11:51 a.m./12:36 p.m. -- Chuck Gardner, Texarkana; Neal Partridge, Fort Smith; Chris Viala, Jonesboro
Noon/12:27 p.m. -- Jake McNulty, White Hall; Tripp Croom, Russellville; Neriah Brown, Hot Springs
12:18 p.m./12:09 p.m. -- Corban Hill, Barling; Chris Eckes, Fort Smith; Jake Myers, Fayetteville
12:27 p.m./noon -- Connor Neil, Springdale; Tomas Mariscotti, Rogers; Matt Jowers, Jonesboro
12:36 p.m./11:51 a.m. -- Austin Harmon, Benton; Luke Long, Fayetteville; Dalton Frost, Fort Smith
12:45 p.m./11:42 a.m. -- Chris Dixon, Sheridan; Jay Trusty, Danville; Ryan Ennis, Benton
12:54 p.m./11:33 a.m. -- Will Honea, Fort Smith; Corey Bartlett, Bentonville; Tyler Livingston, Rogers
1:03 p.m./11:24 a.m. -- Kyle Thompson, HSV; Derek Bailey, Cabot; Jeff Smith, Greenwood
1:12 p.m./11:15 a.m. -- Gordy McKeown, Little Rock; Conley Hurst, Little Rock; Kevin Walker, Sherwood
1:21 p.m./11:06 a.m. -- Barret Lais, Rogers; Efren Gonzalez, Bryant; Beau Glover, North Little Rock
1:30 p.m./10:57 a.m. -- Neal Westbrook, Russellville; Matt Feimster, Sheridan; Grayson Jones, Texarkana
1:39 p.m./10:48 a.m. -- Nick Zimmerman, North Little Rock; Joey Nichols, Little Rock; Stafford Gray, Sherwood
1:48 p.m./10:39 a.m. -- Seth Garner, Hot Springs; Garrett May, Hope; Trey Schaap, North Little Rock
Mid-senior division
8:24 a.m./10:30 a.m. -- Monte Griffin, Hot Springs; Austin Franks, Little Rock; Tracy Harris, Little Rock
8:33 a.m./10:21 a.m. -- Curtis Savoy, Sherwood; Billy Blackburn, El Dorado; Timo Anderson, Little Rock
8:42 a.m./10:12 a.m. -- Jason Palecek, Little Rock; Ken Guinn, Fort Smith; Rick Moody, Fayetteville
8:51 a.m./10:03 a.m. -- Timothy Burke, HSV; Scott Bowen, Little Rock; Brandon Ragsdale, Conway
Senior division
9:09 a.m./8:51 a.m. -- Michael Dunagan, Farmington; Lester Ray, Berryville; Thomas Duckworth, Jonesboro
9:18 a.m./8:42 a.m. -- James Lloyd, Conway; Scott Atkinson, Jonesboro; Steve Creekmore III, Fort Smith
9:27 a.m./8:33 a.m. -- Bruce Upton, Hot Springs; Greg Dunseath, Conway; Keith Browning, Bryant
9:36 a.m./8:24 a.m. -- Bobby Baker, Little Rock; David Shirey, Camden; Jay Lester, Conway
9:45 a.m./8:15 a.m. -- Gene Davis, Little Rock; Ronnie Johnson, Hot Springs; John Tetens, Conway
9:54 a.m./8:06 a.m. -- Joe Starr, Little Rock; Jim Smith, Sherwood; Greg Connell, Russellville
10:03 a.m./7:57 a.m. -- Rick Coatney, Fort Smith; Ben Loftis, Benton; Richard Simpson, Little Rock
10:12 a.m./7:48 a.m. -- Bob Hartmann, Little Rock; Kevin Layman, Little Rock; Robert Green, Warren
10:21 a.m./7:39 a.m. -- Ron Richard, Fort Smith; Frank Ramey, Little Rock; Fred Stamey, HSV
10:30 a.m./7:30 a.m. -- Bev Hargraves, Helena-West Helena; Ronny Ocker, Fort Smith; Clark Fitts, Little Rock
Super senior division
7:30 a.m./9:45 a.m. -- Ralph Williams, Little Rock; John Carter, Camden
7:39 a.m./9:36 a.m. -- Sam McAllister, Bryant; Don White, Sparkman; Bill Banks, Little Rock
7:48 a.m./9:27 a.m. -- Bill Wrentz, Cabot; Glen Talbert, Sheridan; Charlie Angel, Hot Springs
7:57 a.m./9:18 a.m. -- Tom Weathers, Hot Springs; Dan Young, Pine Bluff; David Lawrence, Sherwood
8:06 a.m./9:09 a.m. -- David Watkins, Little Rock; Oscar Taylor, HSV; Joe Bushee, HSV
Sports on 06/17/2016