Southwest Guilford’s Matt Dowdy Wins 3-A Crown

By STEVE WILLIAMS

Some of the best competition 3-A State champ Matt Dowdy and his teammates at Southwest Guilford High School faced all year came in team qualifying.

“In practice, it’s dog eat dog for a spot on the team (top six),” said veteran Southwest coach Don Dixon. “They knew they had to really play just to get in the line-up.  It’s made the team a lot better.”

Dowdy, a sophomore, didn’t even win the Piedmont-Triad 3-A Conference championship, that honor instead going to freshman teammate Greg Williams.

“I think I had 10 different kids play for me during the year,” Dixon said. “And all of them counted in at least one match.”

Dixon’s roster included 12 players and only one of them was a senior. “We had three freshmen, five sophomores and three juniors,” he said.

The Cowboys finished third in the state with a 604 score, shooting 304 in the first round at Keith Hills in Buies Creek and coming back with 300 in the second round at King’s Grant in Fayetteville.

Wilson Hunt fired a second-round 290 to win the team title with a 600 total, one better than defending champ Hickory, which shot 301-300. Shelby Crest took third at 607 (305-302) and High Point Central was fifth at 610 (300-310).

Burlington Williams was seventh at 620 and Southern Alamance was 10th at 640.

Dowdy’s 141 (72-69) was one better than Josh Thackerton of Shelby Crest and Jonathan Woodall of Wilson Hunt, who both shot 72-70.

Defending champ Jerry Richardson of Burlington Williams tied for sixth with Southwestern Randolph’s Billy Moyer at 147, both shooting 69-78.

Drew Weaver led High Point Central with a tie for 10th at 150 (71-79).

Southwest Guiford’s Shawn Hardesty, a sophomore, finished eighth at 148 (74-74). The Cowboys’ other scores were 79-78 by Greg Williams, 79-79 by T.J. Christiansen, 81-79 by Will Duke and 83-82 by Wes Tyner.

Dowdy’s brilliant second round included six birdies and three bogeys.

“He’s really steady,” Dixon said of Southwest’s first-ever individual state champ. “It’s very rare for him to shoot over 36. He’s always around par. And he’s getting better and better. He’s always had a good game but his mental game and concentration has skyrocketed. That’s what got him the state championship.”

Southwest has a solid tradition in golf, dating back to the days when Willis Denmark was head pro at Jamestown Park, the Cowboys’ home course.

“This is my 16th year of coaching and in my first 10 years we never lost a conference match. Willis was crazy about junior golf and he let the kids work at the pro shop and they were around the golf course all the time.”

Southwest won the state team title in 1988.

After a relative lull in recent years, the Cowboys are definitely back.

“Most of our kids play all the time,” Dixon said. “In the summertime, they play in 10 or 20 tournaments. They see some really good competition during the summer. They are tournament tough.”

Dowdy was the leading points winner on the Triad Golf Today Junior Tour in the most recent fall/winter session and is currently on top in the spring/summer session.

“We’ve got several players – if they continue to improve – have an opportunity to be Division I players (in college).”

But that’s a couple or three years away for these Cowboys. Another run or two at the state team title will come first.