Obergoenner eyes state title

Over the course of his high school golfing career, Central senior Todd Obergoenner has experienced a good deal of success.

Obergoenner has qualified for the state tournament the past two years, finishing 20th as a sophomore and climbing all the way to No. 5 last year.

Over the summer Obergoenner kept up his winning ways, traveling across the country to compete in amateur tournaments. Obergoenner qualified for match play at the 2003 U.S. Junior Amateur championships and won a title on the American Junior Golf Association circuit in Chicago.

"It's a whole different level in terms of competition," Obergoenner said of the amateur tournaments. "If you have even one bad round in one of the big summer tournaments, you have no chance of winning. It definitely prepared me for the spring. It made me a better player."

Obergoenner has become good enough to earn an offer from the University of Kentucky. He signed to play golf for the Wildcats earlier this month. At Kentucky, he will join a program that was among the nation's top 30 college golf teams this spring.

"I'm pretty excited," Obergoenner said. "Actually, I can't wait."

But first, Obergoenner will attempt to qualify for the state tournament when the Tigers travel to Eureka on Monday for the Class 4 District 1 tournament at Aberdeen Golf Course.

He would like to make the jump from fifth in the state to first.

"That probably is the ultimate goal for the spring," Obergoenner said. "For me, that would be absolutely incredible. At the beginning of the year, you struggle coming out of winter, but I keep practicing, keeping in mind state is at the end of the road. That is the ultimate thing I want."

Obergoenner leads the Tigers with a 36 average and has not had a round above 40 all season.

"That's just outstanding high school golf," Central coach Dick Wadlington said. "We've had some outstanding golfers at Central in the last 16 years. We've had kids averaging anywhere between 37 and 38. He's on track to have the lowest average I can recall."

But Obergoenner has yet to lead his team to a state berth. The Tigers have had many near-misses in securing a spot, but they may be able to end that streak this year. Two teams from the field of 10 advance to state.

"We've had some good years, but with the competition with Poplar Bluff, some years you're shooting for one possible berth in the top 10," Wadlington said.

Obergoenner hopes to go to state with some company this year.

"It's fun going to state as an individual," he said, "but it would be 10 times more fun to make it as a team."