Wolverines cap successful golf season with fifth-place showing at state 1A tourney

A top-five state finish put the finishing touch Monday on one of the most successful seasons in more than a decade for Polk County’s boys golf program.

The Wolverines fired a team score of 342 on the challenging layout at Foxfire Resort and Golf Club to finish fifth in the 2021 NCHSAA 1A Men’s Golf State Championship.

Polk’s team score left the Wolverines 25 shots behind champion Community School of Davidson. CSD finished the tourney tied at 317 with East Surry, then won a one-hole playoff to claim their third straight state title.

Riverside (Martin) placed third at 326 and Lincoln Charter took fourth at 331.

Normally a two-day event, the state championships were shortened to 18 holes this year due to COVID-19 protocols.

Avery Harden led Polk County’s contingent with an 81, finishing in a tie for 19th. Harden had the second-best performance of the day’s play on par-3 holes, carding two pars, a birdie and a bogey to shoot even on Foxfire’s four shortest holes.

Evan Jones placed 22nd with an 83 while Carson Emory posted an 85 and Reilly Yoder carded a 93.

The top-five finish, Polk’s best since 2008, culminates a season in which the Wolverines won both the Western Highlands Conference tournament and the 1A West Regional. Emory is a senior, but the three other Wolverine starters Monday are sophomores and should return next season along with sophomore Casey Beiler, among others.

Union Academy’s Caleb Surratt took the individual state title with a 3-under par 69, two shots ahead of Thomas Jefferson’s William Spicer.