Dunwoody’s Braeden Rice (left) had quite the tournament on the way to tying for 15th in the Class 6A Boys’ State Golf Championships. Dunwoody’s Amelia Mutert (right) knocked off 14 strokes in the girls tournament battling rain, wind and a soggy course.
The Dunwoody Wildcats shaved seven strokes off their first-round score to finish eighth in the Class 6A Boys’ State Golf Championship at Pine Lakes Country Club in Jekyll Island on Tuesday.
Senior Braeden Rice led the way for the Wildcats finishing with a 151 (77-74) in the two round state round tournament to finish tied for 15th. He flirted with par on the second day of the tournament before settling in at two-over while taking three strokes off a first-day 77 which had him tied for 20th.
Rice’s first day was a battle having to play the last seven holes barefoot due to a blister that had developed earlier in the round. He shook it off to shoot even par over those final seven holes while hitting the day’s longest drive of 330 yards without his shoes.
Rice won the DeKalb County Championships as sophomore and junior and finished as the runner-up to teammate Bradley Stone this season. Dunwoody won the team title all three-years as they extended their county title streak to 14.
Senior Caden Smith made the biggest jump on the second day for the Wildcats after shooting an 82 in the opening round he chopped eight strokes off in the second round for a 74 to jump from a tie for 48th into 31st for the tournament with 79 guys playing.
Juniors Collier Madden (83-83) and Joey Wirka (81-85) tied for 57th overall in the individual standings to round out the team scoring. Junior Bradley Stone knocked two strokes off his first-round 89 with an 87 on Tuesday to finish 67th at 176 and senior Michael Bahr finished 74th with is 183 total (90-93).
Dunwoody finished fourth at Area and then took the last qualifying spot at the Class 6A State Sectional by one stroke over Woodward Academy. Newnan won the Wildcat’s Area championship and Lee County was second at the sectional ahead of the Wildcats but both finished behind the Wildcats in the state tournament.
CLASS 6A GIRLS
Sophomore Amelia Mutert was the lone Dunwoody Lady Wildcat to reach the Class 6A Girls’ State Tournament at Jekyll Island’s Indian Mountain Golf Club and turned around a tough first day to jump nine spots in the individual standings to finish 33rd out of 64 entries.
Mutert who finished third in the DeKalb County Golf Championships this year after taking fourth in 2022 shot a 104 in the opening round and was sitting in 42nd place heading into Tuesday’s final round of competition. She qualified for state by finishing eighth in the Area 3-6A Tournament with a round of 91.
She closed out the day with a 90 (14 stroke improvement) which was tied for 23rd best for the day as she climbed to 33rd on the leaderboard to finish the tournament.
Chamblee’s Dylan Lawson (left) competed in the Class 5A Boys’ State Golf Championship finishing in a tie for 37th. Chamblee’s Catherine Hanson (right) finished tied for 32nd in the girls’ championship to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
CLASS 5A GIRLS
The Chamblee Lady Bulldogs making their second consecutive appearance in the Class 5A Girls’ State Tournament finished 12th with a team total of 690 at Fields Ferry Golf Club in Calhoun on Tuesday.
DeKalb County medalist Catherine Hanson finished tied for 32nd out of 60 players with her 200 total (100-100) to lead the Lady Bulldogs who played without senior Sophie Li (Valedictorian) due to graduation. Li had finished second to Hanson at the County Championships and third a year ago.
Junior Julia Mansour put together a big second day as he cut her first day total of 141 by 25 strokes to shott a 116 (53rd best of the round) to finish at 257 and move up to 57th overall.
Trinity Walls finished 55th overall with her 233 total (111-122) after slipping from her 50th spot where she had shot 11 strokes better in the opening round.
The Lady Bulldogs finished second at the Area 3-5A Tournament to qualify for the with Hanson finishing third, Li in sixth and Mansour tied for ninth.
CLASS 5A BOYS
Chamblee sophomore Dylan Lawson finished in the top half of the 78-player field in the Class 5A Boys’ State Golf Championships at Cartersville Country Club in Cartersville on Tuesday.
Lawson, the lone player from Chamblee to make the tournament, finished in a tie for 37th with a two-day total of 163 (82-81). He finished one stroke better on day two.
The sophomore finished 14th overall in the 2022 DeKalb County Championships and moved up to 8th in 2023 before qualifying for state out of the Area 3-5A Tournament finishing 11th overall with a round of 79.
Redan junior Dominique Blocker became the first Lady Raider to qualify for state.
CLASS 2A GIRLS
Redan junior Dominique Blocker became the first ever Lady Raider to qualify for the state tournament as she picked up the state berth with her eighth-place finish in the Area 2-2A tournament with a 114.
Rain hampered play in the Class 2A Girls’ State Championship at Okefenokee Country Club in Blackshear. Blocker would go on to finish 44th with a 160.
See link below for full DCSD Golf State Tournament results: