For the first time in 38 years, an entire Brownwood Lions team will be competing in the UIL Class 4A Boys Golf State Tournament, with action slated for Monday and Tuesday at Legends Golf Course in Kingsland.
The Lions qualified for state by placing third at the Region I-4A tournament – considered the toughest region in the state – with a two-day, 36-hole total of 612 at Shadow Hills Golf Course in Lubbock.
Sir Bubba Jones sparked the Lions with a 146 composite score following consecutive rounds of 73, followed by District 6-4A individual champion Hudson Reagan’s 153 off rounds of 78 and 75. Cobe Walker chipped in a 155 as he posted a 76 to start and a 79 to finish, while Caleb Modawell contributed a 158 as he followed a round of 78 with an 80. Slayde Espinoza added a 171 with rounds of 85 and 86.
“It’s been almost 40 years since a team has been to the state tournament and there’s a reason for that – that’s because it’s hard to do,” said Lions golf head coach David Jones. “We’ve had a number of individuals that have gone and played in the state tournament – Sir last year and Jaryn Pruitt (2017 Class 4A boys state champion) a few years before that, and some others. But to get a team down there is really difficult and we’ve struggled at the regional tournament for years trying to get over that hump and we’ve finally done that. These guys have put in a ton of work. We go out there everyday and we have a program we do everyday. When practice is over and I leave, they usually go back and get some more work in. We’re in the position we’re in because these guys are dedicated and they believe in hard work and they’ve got a goal and worked really hard to achieve that goal.”
Hudson Reagan said of the entire team qualifying, “It means a lot. We’ve played with some of the guys out at the country club that were on that team or had friends on that team. You can just tell they’re real proud of us. It feels real good to be the team that finally was able to make it back.”
The Lions competed at Legends Golf Course earlier this season, where they placed sixth in a two-day, 36-hole state preview event with a score of 664 following team rounds of 325 and 339. Brownwood finished behind Canyon Randall (608), Wimberley (629), Bridgeport (632), Andrews (645), and Canyon (645) – with four of those teams coming from Region I. The Lions surpassed Canyon and Bridgeport at regionals to earn their state berth, and look to continue their ascent next week.
“We just knew if we could get out of that region we have a very good shot at winning state,” Sir Bubba Jones said. “Normally 1-2-3 in that region will go 1-2-3 at state. Getting out of there meant a lot to us. We feel good about our chances. We’ve been practicing a lot lately. We’ve been out there a few hours every day. Our team has really come on. Cobe and Slayde and I do stock shows and after the stock shows it took us a while to get back into the groove of things but once we did I started playing better and Cobe really came on. We needed to play good in Lubbock and we did, good enough to make it to state.”
Regarding what it will take for the Lions to make a push for the state title, Coach Jones feels four of the five golfers must shoot two rounds in the 70s.
“We’ve got five team members but you only count the top four scores,” Coach Jones said. “We felt like at regionals we had to have four scores in the 70s and that’s certainly going to be the case again. We’re going to have to play really well to win it and our guys understand that. It’s the state golf championship and there’s only 12 teams down there, the top 12 in the state, and we’re going to have to play our best.”
The regional tournament was completed on April 20, so it will be a full month between competitive events for the Lions, but they don’t view that as an issue.
“For us, I see it as a good thing because I feel like we’ve been practicing enough,” Sir Bubba Jones said. “Some teams might take some time off and they might be worried about the break because they hit their high point at regionals, but I feel like we’re going do go down there and do the same things we’ve been doing.’
Coach Jones added, “We try to compete every day. Some days we work short game, some days we treat every hole as a par 3, but at the end of the day these guys always go play and there’s always a game involved and competition between each other. The layoff doesn’t bother me, I think our guys are fine tuned and ready to compete.”
Not lost on the Lions is how rare state appearances can be, and that when they step on the course Monday and Tuesday it may be their only opportunity to earn a state medal.
“I watched my brother play four years of high school golf and they never made it out of the regional tournament,” Hudson Reagan said. “Seeing that encouraged me to bring a medal back home. It would mean a lot to everybody.”
Coach Jones added, “We’ve only got one senior on our varsity in Slayde so all these guys are coming back, so we have a relatively young team. But you’re not guaranteed an opportunity to be at the state tournament again, a lot of things can happen. They have an opportunity right now and when opportunity knocks you have to answer the door. Our kids have played a bunch of golf in high stress environments and they’re used to that. I certainly expect our guys to go down and play their best rounds of golf and we’re excited to see what happens.”