Frazier gets hot, Spartans get into Region C tournament

Gunar Frazier surrounded by teammates as Giles collected the Three Rvers District tournament win.

Ace of the high school golf team cooks the back nine with four-straight birdies, support arrives from deep in the lineup, a

five-stroke district championship tournament win enters the books – nothing like getting hot at the right time.

“I’m glad to see some improvement,” Giles coach Coach W.R Johnston said. “I don’t know about hot, though. If we would have

had four 70’s, then that would have been hot.”

High standards over here, give them that.

That’s reality when the count has reached 17 total regular season district championships going back to Group AA and,

counting earlier this week at the Three Rivers get-together at Draper Valley, six district tournaments since 1996.  Half

those years– ’08, ’09, ’10 – the Spartans claimed both regular season and tournament.

Throw in the 2002 state title and two runners-up since, the most recent in 2010, and am unmistakable picture of consistency

emerges. Johnston has been in office since 1996.

In the end, it all boils down to clutch individual performance and a number of those turned up for Giles as golfers dodged

raindrops and lightning bolts at district earlier this week.

Nobody was any more collected under pressure than Spartans No. 1, junior Gunar Frazier, he of the quartet of  birdies on

the back nine. Frazier, as precise with his elocution as he was his shotmaking,  fired a 1-over 73 to claim the medal,

edging  out Floyd County district player of the year Amanda Hollandsworth by two shots. Also carding a 75 was Spartan Kory

Watts, 5-over for the first six holes. Speaking of slow starts,  Frazier was 2-over for the first six.

“My goal was no bogies,” Frazier said, “but unfortunately, I had bogies at 4 and 6. So I go to the back and after a couple

of birdies, I make a couple of more bogies. I made some mistakes, but I also did some things well.”

Hollandsworth, who dominated the top of the leader board during the regular season, was watching.

“What was it, four birdies in a row?” she said. “That’s unbelievable. He really got hot with the putter.”

The putter was Hollandsworth’s downfall at district, but she’d already qualified out of the regular season for next week’s

Region C, also at Draper.

Giles never made it out of district last year, so the return to the postseason is a welcome return to form. The Spartans

have had to battle to get there. Both Floyd County and Glenvar have stood in the way. The Highlanders won the regular

season by – get this – outpointing Giles 2020-2021 based on the cumulative scores of six six-team tournaments.

“We’re starting to improve a little bit,” Johnston said. “Our first two guys have been really steady. The rest of them are

coming along.”

Knowing that Frazier and Watts were good for some low numbers, Johnston was hoping to get another couple of guys into the

80’s at the tournament. Hunter Carbaugh came through with and 88 and Jacob Hudson would have joined him in that range if

not for a late 8 that left him at 90 for the round.

Frazier played his usual schedule of summer events but pronounced himself dissatisfied with his results. The turnaround

began with the start of the high school season. Frazier said he doesn’t approach individual and team events in the same

way.

“You have to always be thinking about the team and not yourself. You can’t take too many risks because the team is looking

up to you to make the right decisions.”
Here’s another right decision: Pencil Frazier in at the top of the lineup and let him go to work. High standards he’s

proved he can meet.

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