PT's Lackey takes chill out of course to win SH tourney





By JOE HALE, Longview News Journal

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

If Pine Tree's Chad Lackey really needed a boost, he certainly got it with a 1-over-par 71 score Monday at Wood Hollow Golf Club.

The Pine Tree senior captured medalist honors and led the Pirates to a second-place finish in the season opening Spring Hill Invitational Tournament.

An hour-and-a-half delay caused by frost left by 28-degree temperatures preceded the beginning of play for the 25-team field.

All things considered, Pine Tree coach Jody Berryhill was pleased with his team's 301, just four strokes behind Tyler Lee's winning 297. The Red Raiders were the defending Spring Hill tournament champions, but were hurt by graduation, causing some concern for coach John Taylor.

"A 297 in these conditions is pretty good," Taylor commented. "This is a new group and I was a little concerned about how we would come out and play."

Berryhill expected that Pine Tree would be capable of competing with Tyler Lee.

"Chad hit a couple of birdies on his final two holes that proved pretty big for us. Travis (Chrietzberg) shot a 74 and was consistent for us," Berryhill said. "Brock (Dixon) had some back-to-back difficulties that carried over a little bit and that hurt his score a little bit. But, by the end of the tournament he was playing more like himself. He'll be OK."

Lindale (306), coming off a strong season a year ago, was third followed by Hallsville (317) and Nacogdoches (319).

Tyler Lee White (322), Canton (322), tournament-host Spring Hill (324) , Whitehouse Maroon (328) and Henderson (328) completed the top 10.

"I was a little nervous, but ended up shooting a pretty good score," said Lackey, who is 18 and one of the veterans on this year's Pine Tree team.

Spring Hill coach Stephen LaMore was disappointed with his team's finish.

"We can and should do better than we played," he said. "We need to work harder and compete better than we did."

Jacob Johnson of Lindale was the runner-up medalist behind Lackey with a 73, followed by Tyler Lee teammates Clark Hardy and Trey Brooks, who shot identical 73s. Chrietzberg of Pine Tree and Shelby Henderson of Gilmer were next with 74s, followed by a group of four golfers at 75.

Hallsville's Austin Crossland was one of the four tied at 75, two strokes better than his teammate Justin Weant's 77.

"The cold affected me some on my shot selection and the wind wore me down later in the round. I hit 12 greens in regulation and normally I hit a few more than that," Crossland said.

The Panthers were led by sophomore Jason Fiscus, who shot a 75 after playing his first nine holes at even-par.

"I was hitting the ball good and chipping good," said Fiscus, who hit 8 of 9 greens in regulation and finished the front with just a dozen putts. "The wind wore me down some on the back nine."

Longview's White finished with a 349, while the Lobo Gold team shot a 376. The White team was led by Matt McWilliams (85), Tyler Fritz's 87 and an 88 by Spencer Hodge. Preston Taylor led the Gold group with an 89.

"I thought this group of kids played OK for the first tournament," said Longview coach Larry Cloninger. "Most of these players are sophomores and they're going to shoot in the mid- to upper-80s. They will be OK. They need to keep playing."