Gentry 39th at State

By DAN HOEHNE

daniel.hoehne@newssun.com

"One bad hole, you can recover from, two bad holes it gets a little iffy," Suzie Gentry said. "Three bad holes is just really hard to recover from."

Which is what it came down to for Avon Park junior Greg Gentry at the Class 1A State Golf Championships on a wind-whipped second day of competition - leaving him short of his goal of a top-ten finish, and yet well within the top half, tying for 39th among a field of 94.

"The wind really kicked up the second day and most of the scores went up," Suzie Gentry said. "And I think it just took it's toll, overall. High school tournaments, the kids walk nine holes, at districts, they walk 18. Here, they were walking 36, and if you include Monday's practice round, most were walking 54 holes over three days."

Gentry started strong, firing a 75 during his practice round Monday and lowering that to a one-over 73 on the first day of competition on the Juliette Fall Golf Course in Dunnellon - putting him in a tie for 18th.

But the conditions turned blustery on Wednesday and the scores started to rise.

"He had three errant tee-shots that got him into the trees," Gentry said of her son. "So those turned out to be the three bad holes and that knocked him back a bit."

Back to an 81 for the day and a 154 total for the tournament.

"He was disappointed he didn't reach his goal of the top-ten, but he said he just saw it as another tournament on a golf course he hadn't played," Gentry said.

A great mindset for a golfer, and one obviously honed by his past success.

"He's won two district tournaments, has advanced to regionals three times and now, as a junior, made it to state," Gentry said. "It was just a wonderful experience. He's hard to get much out of sometimes, but I know it was an honor for him to be there."

And the experience gained can only help him next season in reaching his goal of getting back and adding 'just another tournament' to his schedule and accomplishments.