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Teams Share Golf Title

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By BART O'CONNELL, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 10, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS - Four teams entered Tuesday's Sunshine Athletic Conference Tournament with a chance at the title. By midafternoon, two had reached their goal - sort of.

River Ridge, which won the tournament with 317 strokes, and Mitchell, the runner-up at 323, shared the conference title due to a system that rewards a point for each regular-season match win and escalating points for the tournament.

Since the Mustangs won nine regular-season matches and earned 10 points in the tournament, they tied the Royal Knights, who had eight match wins and 11 points for winning the tournament.

That led to a bittersweet ending for River Ridge coach Mike Marlin and Mitchell coach Rick Hyatt.

'I just don't like the way the system is. We only get one point for winning this tournament,' Marlin said. 'This tournament - everything comes out of here. Your top 10, All-Conference, this is where everything is, and you get one point, gain one point. To me, we have to relook at it.'

'It's kind of like kissing your sister,' Hyatt said, considering the result more of a tie than a win. 'Of course we wanted to win it outright, but we had a chance. We let Land O' Lakes beat us last week. If we win that and finish second today, we're outright champions.'

The Royal Knights were clearly the superior team Tuesday, showcasing their depth. They were led by individual winner Kiel Jackson, a senior who shot 1-over par 73. Blake Thaxter had a 79, Cory Altwies an 82 and Jeff King and Mike Mignone had 83s, one of which counted toward the four-man team score.

'We felt good coming in here,' Marlin said. 'The course sets up good for us. It's long, and my kids hit it long.'

Jackson shook off a bogey on the opening hole, making birdies on the par-5 sixth and par-4 14th. By the 15th green, he knew he was likely at or near the overall lead, though he had no idea where his opponents stood.

But after a poor second shot at the par-4 16th, he lipped out his par putt, and his lead against playing partner Rick Briggs of Zephyrhills was down to two with two holes to play.

'Just make pars,' Jackson said to himself after the hole, 'and you should be good.'

Jackson withstood the pressure, getting up and down from off the green at both 17 and 18 for pars, finishing with an even-par 36 on the back nine.

Briggs also shot 36 on the back nine and made two birdies overall, but the difference was a front-nine 39 that left him at 75.

Mitchell's Kenny Cavender and Chaz Heinz both carded 76, and Land O' Lakes' Wes Parrish shot 77. Those three joined Jackson and Briggs on the All-SAC first team.

The second team consisted of the next six players on the leader board: Ridgewood's Jonathan Rospell (78), and Jeff Koos (79), Thaxter (79) and Altwies (82) from River Ridge, Land O' Lakes' Josh Barnett (80) and Mitchell's Austin Richardson (82).

Ridgewood (327) finished third in the team standings, followed by Land O' Lakes (339), Zephyrhills (351), Wesley Chapel (369), Pasco (386), Gulf (394), Wiregrass Ranch (401) and Sunlake (409). Hudson did not have enough posted scores to qualify.

Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@pop.tampatrib.com.

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