By Staff
May 27, 2001
The late Ed Lewis would have absolutely loved Saturday's opening round of the annual Memorial Day golf tournament named in his honor at Northwood Country Club.
Lewis, who died at the age of 89 in 1998, wouldn't have been the only person who enjoyed what was a glorious day for golf on a holiday weekend.
Some 72 two-man teams are competing for the championship that Scott Morgan and Judge Little have monopolized for the last three years.
Morgan and Little showed no signs of relinquishing their stranglehold of the three-day tournament as they shared the lead at the end of the first round with a 6-under par 65. Tied with them are recent high school graduate Austin Holmes and 15-year-old John Thomas Williamson.
With scores ranging from 65 to 93 in Saturday's four-ball format, it was apparent there was a very wide range in talent. The range in enjoyment wasn't nearly so great as a good time was to be had by all.
Nineteen teams shot under par while six others matched par on the par-71 course.
Those fairways don't back down from any course around these parts, Gamblin said.
MCC golfers bound for Texas: Northwood fixture Lou Hart and her Meridian Community College golf team of Dan Luke, Morgan Stewart, Brandon Laird, Jamie Sullivan, and Cameron Hunt are missing the tournament as they left Saturday morning bound for Texas and the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship which begins Tuesday at Texas A&M University.
The event is a four-day, 72-hole tournament.
MCC is ranked No. 11 in the May 17 NJCAA Division II poll despite being unbeaten against Division II competition this spring.
Luke, Stewart, Laird, and Hunt have also qualified for the 2001 Mississippi Golf Association State Amateur Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, June 7-10.
Other local and area players chasing three-time defending state am champion Rett Crowder are Dan Angero, Earl Aycock Jr., Daniel Boles, Doyle Bryan, Ken Bush, Clinton Hales, Johnny Lang, Judge Little, Jackie McLaughlin, Randy Pool, Scott Ray, Robert Sanford, Mike Taylor, Robert Tranum, H.G. Weddington, and John Thomas Williamson.
Yes, indeed. They did good too: In Monday's column of all the championships or near championships won by area schools this year, two were overlooked.
The second paragraph of that column plainly said I'm sure I was going to leave somebody out because there was an abundance of good teams this year.
That doesn't mean those accomplishments should be overlooked, however. I just couldn't remember them at all the time.
Lamar School won the Academy AAA state championship as well as the Academy Overall championship in golf just a few weeks ago.
But the biggest oversight was Meridian Community College's winning the NJCAA National Championship in soccer back in the fall.
Yikes!
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com.