Central's Simmons claws out share of medalist honors

~ A bogey on his final hole cost Simmons the outright medalist honors Thursday.

Central senior Tim Simmons thinks one of the easiest holes to play at Dalhousie Golf Course is No. 6, but it ended up being one of the more difficult ones for him Thursday.

"I have to admit coming down the stretch, the last hole on 6, it is one of the easier holes on this course," Simmons said. "I made it look like one of the toughest. I actually bogeyed the last hole and was really kicking myself about that because I figured at that point I had given the tournament away by one shot."

Simmons knew he was in good shape to earn medalist honors before struggling on his final hole. Simmons was playing in the same group with his good friend and talented golfer Chance Holden, of Dexter, who was three strokes behind him coming down the stretch. Holden had told Simmons he did not think anyone could have been golfing better than Simmons.

Simmons eagerly glanced up at the scoreboard while Saxony Lutheran coach Carroll Williams and Jack Connell, the director of golf at Dalhousie, posted the scores of the golfers from the 23 schools competing in the Saxony Lutheran Invitational.

Central's Tim Simmons chips toward the first hole Thursday during the Saxony Lutheran Invitational at Dalhousie Golf Club. (KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com)

"I was definitely scoreboard watching," Simmons joked.

Simmons' bogey on No. 6 affected him, but not too much. The Central senior tied with Poplar Bluff's Carr Vernon for a 3-over-par 74.

"I was pretty confident coming in that I would get the top three," Simmons said. "The wind got up and the course got pretty tough to play."

Simmons, who has been on the Central golf team since his sophomore year, did not finish in the top 10 either of the past two seasons at the Saxony tournament.

Central coach Dick Wadlington watched Simmons play his first four holes, Nos. 7 through 10, before moving around the course to watch some of his other golfers. But Wadlington returned to watch Simmons play the final two holes. Wadlington agreed that No. 6 is one of the easier holes at Dalhousie.

Saxony Lutheran's Nick Murphy sinks a putt on the 12th green Thursday.

"So he could've won it outright," Wadlington said. "I didn't have to say anything [to him after the hole]. He said, 'I think I blew the tournament on the last hole.' Not any hole out here is very easy, but it is one of the easier ones. I think he might have tried to play too safe. It's a short par 4 and he hit it left and got it in the high grass and had to lay out of it or punch out of it."

Simmons said that it helps that he often plays at the Dalhousie course. He's shot as low as 69 while playing there with friends for fun last summer.

"The Connells and everyone at Dalhousie treats me as good as gold," Simmons said. "I can come out here anytime I want. I play the course quite a bit. A lot of these smaller schools, they don't ever play a course like this. It's one time a year when it's a treat for them. But definitely playing it in the winter all time helps out tremendously."

Wadlington said he is not surprised that Simmons ended up being a medalist in a talented field that included Vernon, Holden (77), Jackson's Tanner Werner (78), Clearwater's Tanner McKinney (78) and Poplar Bluff's Zack Stricker (79) and Trent Hillis (80).

Some local golfers who played well included Jackson's Brett Leimbach (79) and Joe Shultz (80) and Notre Dame's Jessi Schott (81).

"Tim had a nice round," Wadlington said. "He's a good, steady player. He worked hard over the summer and he's made a lot of improvements. He's been very consistent so far for us."

Simmons, who made the state tournament as both a sophomore and junior, spent a significant time in the offseason working on his short game.

"Putting is a key," Simmons said. "My dad has always told me the state tournament is a two-day putting contest. Everybody can hit their shots, but you've got to putt to play good at state, and I really tried to put a lot of work in and I still am.

"I feel confident I can make it to state for the third year. I set the goal at the beginning of the season to go to state and finish top five at state."

Poplar Bluff won the title with a 312. Jackson came in second with a 325. Dexter shot a 329. Both Notre Dame and Central shot 330s.

"What I'd really like to see is the rest of the kids pick it up a little bit," Wadlington said. "We've been right around 157 to 164 and we need to get our third and fourth score down a little bit lower. It's coming. I thought we did that yesterday, but we kind of took a step back today."

Team scores -- Poplar Bluff 312; Jackson 325; Dexter 329; Central 330; Notre Dame 330; West Plains 335; Farmington 337; New Madrid 341; Sikeston 345; Potosi 360; Kennett 360; St. Vincent 361; Saxony Lutheran 366; Park Hills 370; Perryville 448; Clearwater 379; Malden 390; Doniphan 392; Ste. Genevieve 416; North County 418; Valle 424; Advance 478

Poplar Bluff -- Carr Vernon 74; Zack Stricker 79; Jake Russe 79; Trent Willis 80; Cameron West 84

Jackson -- Tanner Werner 78; Brett Leimbach 79; Drew Hosp 92; Joe Shultz 80; Jordan Dale 88

Dexter -- Chance Holden 77; John Bowman 79; Logan Robey 86; Brennen Justice 87; Matt Miller 102

Central -- Tim Simmons 74; Corey Connell 83; Cory Fowler 84; Cole Viers 89; Jordan Sheets 90

Notre Dame -- Jesse Schott 81; Gunnar Knudtson 82; Kurt Heischmidt 83; Brett Slaten 84; Joe Wiggans 84

West Plains -- Dustin Harris 76; Dillon Crow 84; Alex Prewett 86; Zach Rothgeb 89; Tyler Sexton 97

Farmington -- Alex Rhodes 82; Landon Barks 83; Branden Gallager 86; Dylan Elders 86; John Schnurbusch 93

New Madrid -- Aaron Griffin 81; Justin Fields 81; Brett Martindale 84; Lofton Hayes 95; Reese Porter 107

Sikeston -- Dakota Trevino 80; Ben Murray 88; Gratten Allen 88; Evan Deere 89; Hannah Uthoff 107

Potosi -- Zack Gibson 83; Seth Gibson 90; Cody Reed 93; Madison Smith 94; Nathan Portell 95

Kennett -- Sean Callewaert 85; Ryan Richardson 87; Tyler Niemeier 93; Justin Lynn 95; Randy Crawford 98

St. Vincent -- Brandon Trapp 83; Shawn Martin 86; Brett Wengert 91; Jason Carron 101; Carrissa Prost 110

Saxony Lutheran -- Zach Vaeth 87; Tyler James 91; Nick Murphy 92; Garrett Brewer 96; Luke Mueller 100

Park Hills -- Rolin Baker 87; Cody Barnett 93; Taylor Gray 94; Connor Priest 96; Kody Kimball 96

Perryville -- Blake Schnurbusch 99; Jesse Martin 107; Aaron Welker 117; Matt Sippel 125; Jerod Yount 128

Clearwater -- Tanner McKinney 78; Eddie Courville 92; Anthony Markham 103; Levi Baker 106

Malden -- Zane Huckeby 84; Jonathan Potts 92; Nick Patillo 102; Chris Carpenter 112

Doniphan -- Taylor Smith 88; Mitch Granier 95; Cody Asay 100; Heath White 109; Brennan Meyers 120

Ste. Genevieve -- Kory Faulkner 96; Justin Sexauer 103; Dustin Neil 106; Ryan Mueller 111; Kyle Arnold 115

North County -- John Woods 95; Ryan Aubuchon 104; Cameron Claywell 107; Sam Henson 109; Corey Clark 127

Valle -- Kory Donze 101; Kellen Bader 103; Nick Joggerst 110; Mitchell Friedman 110; Zach Oyle 119

Bloomfield -- Seth Hill 89; Austin Cooper 98; Blake Cox 98; Brand Roper 120

Advance -- Tyler Slinkard 101; Blake Lingle 119; John Middleton 127; Nathan Shrum 131