Wimberley is sending golfers Jaxon Donaldson and Hallie Adare to the State Championship tournament after a pair of strong rounds from both athletes in the UIL Region IV tournament last week.
Jaxon Donaldson won the boys’ regional tournament in a playoff with district foe Kyle Doolittle from Davenport High School. Donaldson started out the two day event with a scorching 69 to tie for the tournament lead.
On day two, the wind picked up significantly making low scores hard to find. Donaldson handled the conditions well until a quadruple bogey on hole 17 seemingly lost him the lead.
“He thought he might have lost by one shot at that point,” Head Coach Dane Saucier said. “But when he found out he had tied, he got refocused and started hitting balls on the range. I think he showed some maturity from that end by bouncing back and playing well in the playoff holes with two pars. From that standpoint, he showed a lot of emotional maturity. He is still young himself, and he makes some young mistakes, but it was great to see him bounce back. That is part of the growing up process – being able to put that behind you.”
Those two pars were good enough to secure the playoff victory and a second straight regional championship for Donaldson. He will play on May 9 and 10 at the Legends Golf Course in Kingsland in the State Championship.
Days later, Hallie Adare competed in the girls’ regional tournament.
She played well enough to stay in contention on the first day of the tournament, but two holes kept her from shooting the type of score she was aiming for, finishing with an 80. Coming into the season, one of Adare’s goals was to make it to the state tournament. To do so, she’d have to shoot a low score on the second day as well as conquer a few demons from the previous season. She did both.
“Last year, as a junior, holes 16, 17 and 18 got her,” Saucier said. “They were the difference in her not going to state. This year, over the two day period, she played those holes even par. That was the difference.”
Adare finished in third place in the tournament with a 75 on the second day. She will play at Legends Golf Course in Kingsland on May 16 and 17.
