CHAPEL HILL – All four North Carolina High School Athletic Association state men’s golf championships will be played simultaneously at four different sites across the state on Monday and Tuesday.
The 77th annual 4-A championships will be held this year at Pinehurst number eight, with the 28th annual 3-A championships at the Foxfire Golf and Country Club in Foxfire Village. The 2-A event, also the 28th annual, is scheduled for the Longleaf Golf and Country Club in Southern Pines, and the 16th annual 1-A championships will be contested at the Chapel Hill Country Club.
Rain forced postponement of several regional tournaments, with some being played on Thursday due to inclement weather. The top three teams from each of the regionals along with the top three individuals not on one of the qualifying teams earn spots in the 36-hole classified championships.
Prior to 1986, all NCHSAA golf teams competed for a single title in an open tournament. Play went to three classifications in 1986 and then to four classes beginning with the 1998 tournaments.
The 4-A championships at Pinehurst number eight are set for par 72 and 6,698 yards. The 3-A event at Foxfire will be par 72 on a 6,591-yard layout. Longleaf’s set-up is par 71 and 6,600 yards for the 2-A tournament, and the 1-A championships at Chapel Hill will be held on a par 72, 6,619-yard layout.
Raleigh Broughton won the 4-A team title last year to continue Wake County’s strong showing in 4-A golf. In fact, a school from Wake County has won 18 of the 27 separate 4-A championships and the last four, and a Wake County individual golfer has captured the individual title 10 of the last 14 years.
There have been five different 3-A team champions in the last five years, with Gastonia Forestview taking the crown a year ago.
In the 2-A classification, Salisbury is the two-time defending team champion and North Lincoln won a pair of championships the two years before that.
Kernersville Bishop McGuinness has won the last two 1-A team titles. East Surry had a string of four straight 1-A team championships from 2005 through ’08.
The first threesomes will go off at eight o’clock in the morning on each of the two days of the tournament in all four classifications.
NCHSAA FastFacts
Event: NCHSAA Men’s Golf Championships
Date: May 13-14, 2013
Site: four different sites
First Held: 1937
Qualifiers: top three teams from each regional, top three individuals not on one of the qualifying teams, in each classification
Defending team champions: 4-A: Raleigh Broughton; 3-A: Gastonia Forestview; 2-A: Salisbury; 1-A: Bishop McGuinness
Of Interest: The best individual round ever shot in an NCHSAA state championship was in the 2011 3-A championship at Foxfire, as J.T. Poston of Hickory fired a 63.