Wildcats win again
- Updated: April 2, 2019
White Plains wins fourth tournament in five starts, Gage Miller low medalist with career-best 68
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
CULLMAN – White Plains’ penchant for having a different player lead it to victory this season continued Tuesday when Gage Miller shot 4-under-par 68 to win medalist honors while leading the Wildcats to the Chesley Oaks Invitational title.
It was the Wildcats’ fourth win in five tournament starts this season – they finished third in the other – and Miller was the last in the lineup to be their low man.
“You know how they are,” Miller said. “They were like messing with me about it. That’s why I’ve been practicing so hard so I could show them that I can play so good.”
Miller’s 68 helped the Wildcats shoot 292 as a team, meeting their goal of having their four counters average 2-over-par. They beat runner-up Homewood by 24 shots.
The Wildcats also counted 74s from co-runner-ups Andrew Miller and Gavin Burrage and a 76 from Wesley Jenkins.
Jenkins led them in the season-opening Blue-Gray win. Burrage and Andrew Miller led them at Silver Lakes. And it was Okins at Cross Creek in Cullman.
“I think it’s a testament to their work and the camaraderie we have within the team,” Wildcats assistant coach Justin Mallicoat said. “They pull for each other. Every one of them know it could be their day and they could be the reason we won. They really, really strive to be the driving force to pulling out a victory.”
Miller’s career-best tournament round featured five birdies. He started the round with two and finished with two, and they lined up as four in a row if you looked at the scorecard (18, 1, 16, 17). His previous best round was a 74 in Glencoe’s tournament earlier this year and the opening round of the state tournament last year.
Only one of his birdies was longer than eight feet, and that was the 20-footer he made on 16 that guaranteed him shooting in the 60s.
“I had lost all confidence in my putting and figured it out a couple weeks ago and now I feel I can make every putt,” he said.
“We did what we were supposed to do and good things happened,” Mallicoat said. “It gives us some momentum going into Friday.”
That would be the opening round of the Calhoun County Tournament at Pine Hill, the Wildcats’ home course where they are expected to be heavy team favorites.
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