HOWIE-IN-THE-HILLS ― Hole No. 14 is where one of Darby Hancock’s most crucial shots happened because of its awkward and difficult.
The hole features a dog leg left where golfers must go over trees and then hit the ball about 200 yards into the green. On top of that, the last day crews put the pin right behind a bunker.
At this point, Hancock, Kathleen’s ― and the county’s best golfer ― was tied for the lead, and she needed a good shot. Hancock executed a par, which assisted her confidence moving into the last four holes.
This helped Hancock finish in first place at the FHSAA Class 3A Girls State Championship Friday at Las Colinas thanks to her 71, her first time winning state. She is just the second girl in Polk County golf history to win state.
“My coach helped me by laying the best course of action to how I was going to play each hole,” Hancock said. “It’s an amazing feeling finally winning the state championship. Only one girl gets to make that claim each year. This is my fourth year playing there and I’ve came close to winning it before, so it was rewarding to make it happen.”
Hancock has been working arduously to be the top golfer in the county ― and now the state — the past four years. This season she got off to a great start and kept that consistency heading into state.
“I just reminded myself that I was just out there to play golf and have fun,” Hancock said. “It may be intense but it’s still about having fun.”
This mentality led to leading for most of the state tournament. She did, however, lose the lead on the back nine, but this is when she refocused and played her best golf of the day. Hancock made a birdie on 16, which gave her a three-shot lead that she maintained.
Hancock attributes her state win to not only her mentality she kept through the match, but to her experience level playing on the course.
“I’ve played this course multiple times. Qualifiers for other events and practice rounds, I felt like it gave me a slight advantage because I had a plan to go with my course knowledge,” Hancock said.
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Winter Haven’s Anthony Monteleone claims second in state
Winter Haven’s Anthony Monteleone’s most important shot of the day came when he needed to hit a wedge shot from the trees on the ninth hole during the second round.
Sitting at plus-5 through eight holes, Monteleone hit a wedge from under a tree to three feet, which led to an easy putt for confidence going into the back nine. This led to Monteleone claiming second in the Class 3A Boys State Championship Friday at Las Colinas thanks to his 73.
“My coach told me to play the back nine like I play when there’s no pressure and I played my back nine great,” Monteleone said. “Getting second is definitely a big improvement from last year, and it makes me feel way better about my game knowing I’m one of the best in the state. It’s cool knowing that out of every kid that made it to the tournament, I was the second best in the field. I know I can win next year since this tournament I couldn’t get off the tee box well, and still finished in the top (two).”
It helped Monteleone finish in the top two by making sound decisions early. For Monteleone’s first hole of the tournament, he hit a drive into the trees, which put him at a crossroads: either hit a backward shot into the fairway or commit to a tough pinch shot. He chose the latter, which ended up perfectly in the fairway and saved his first hole.
“The courses were very soft, which means they spun a lot which made me adjust how to hit wedge shots into the greens,” Monteleone said.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Kathleen’s Darby Hancock wins state golf championship