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The annual 3-day Grant Classic golf tournament was another big hit this year. With day one at Callaway Gardens and the final two days at Highland Country Club, it was a nearly perfect weekend for golf in west Georgia.

“The weather cooperated, there was some really good golf played, and everything just went really well,” said Ben Thrasher, the LaGrange High golf coach and the event organizer. 

It was a stacked field with the hometown LaGrange Grangers finishing in 14th out of 17 teams. The Grangers struggled on day one, combining to shoot 340. The team would turn it around on Friday, shooting a combined 320, which was strong enough for fifth best in the field and was a nice consolation for LaGrange as the team did not qualify for Saturday. 

“We played one of the worst, if not the worst, round of tournament golf on the opening day, so I was really proud of the way we were able to bounce back,” Thrasher said. “We actually ended up tied for fifth place on the second day 

The second day saw the Grangers get a big boost from Grady Westmorland. It was the senior’s first tournament round with the team this season, as he spends the majority of his spring time on the diamond for the LaGrange High baseball team.

Westmoreland shot 74 on Friday, which was good enough to be tied for first place for the round.

“That just shows you what kind of athlete Grady is,” Thrasher said. “It’s a testament to how good of a golfer he is and how much work he puts in at practice, even if he’s not playing in tournaments.”

Freshman Drew Burch led the way across the two days, shooting a combined 162 across the two days to finish in 30th place. Juniors Saxon Chastain and Charlie Pitts shot 167 and 166, respectively. Hugh Kersey also played two rounds, shooting 178. William Petrus played the opening round for the Grangers and shot a 91.

The Grangers’ strong finish on day two will be a big boost as the team is set to play in the Area 1-3A tournament at Callaway Gardens on Thursday, as the team aims to repeat as area champions. 

“Typically, we do not play well at Highland, but we played really well on Friday, so if we can duplicate that at area and state, we will have a chance to be very successful,” Thrasher said.

“But, we have to put it all together at the same time, which we haven’t consistently done this season,” he added. 

The final day featured just the eight lowest-scoring teams. The final came down to Benedictine and Brookstone, two of the best golf teams in the state, regardless of classification. 

“Benedictine is the I believe the no. 2 scoring team in the state across all classifications and Brookstone is one of the top teams in the private school GIAA classification, so it was not a surprise to see those two teams competing to win it and they both played some really good golf,” Thrasher said.