The Vandegrift boys golf team placed third at the UIL Boys State Golf Tournament at Legacy Hills in Georgetown on May 17-18.

“We had rain delays on both the 17th and 18th. It forced us to stay strong mentally and push through all the challenges that sitting for 3-4 hours then trying to compete presents,” said Benjamin Lee, head Vandegrift golf coach. 

VHS was in 6th place after day 1, but only four strokes out of 3rd place.

Westlake A @ -5

The Woodlands @ +1

Westlake B @ +3

Plano West @ +4

Houston Memorial @ +4

Vandegrift @ +7

JJ Pearce @ +11

“We played average golf for 27 holes then played our last 9, 3 under as a team,” Lee said. 

Then on day 2, The Woodlands, Westlake B and Plano West struggled and opened the door for teams from below to move up.  Four members of the team birdied on hole 18.

VHS still didn’t know if it could hold onto 3rd place until the last The Woodlands player finished. But that wasn’t so easy as the team had to wait hours for that.

Lightning suspended play for 4-5 hours, and after the 9 players that weren’t finished made it back out to their positions, it took 5 minutes for more lightning to delay play  again. Half an hour later, they headed out again and finally the results were determined.

“After waiting 6 (total) hours on Tuesday, we got to finish the tournament and finished on the podium by 1 shot. We played the final hole 4 under as a team to place 3rd by 1.