Doug Chickarello, whose outstanding play enabled the Panthers to win the tournament

By Greg Baechtle
Special Contributor

Pinewood's varsity golf team captured the SCISA AAA state championship on Tuesday, at Quail Creek Golf Club in Myrtle Beach. The Panthers shot a two day total of 604 to defeat runner up Hilton Head Christian by four shots. The win is the Panthers second in the past three years. The Panthers won the championship in 2006 and finished as the runner up in 2007.

The Panthers opened the tournament with a score of 296 giving them a six shot lead over Hilton Head Christian. Wilson Hall was third with 313 and last year's champion, Orangeburg Prep, was in fourth with 315. The Panthers had a solid showing, across the board led by Austin Cody's ever par 72. Kamito Hirai and Lushen Evans, playing the #2 and #3 spots, respectively both shot 74's. Senior Seth Davis posted an 80 in the #4 position and freshman Doug Chickarello capped off the teams good showing with a 76 from the #5 spot. Monday's round was played in high winds and rain, which caused a 45 minute stoppage of play late in the round due to lightning strikes in the area.

The second day, while sunny and clear, provided the players with even more of a challenge as the winds picked up in intensity, gusting over 30 mph. With players struggling in the wind Panthers head coach Greg Baechtle said he knew the Panthers lead wasn't secure. "Going into the event, it was pretty clear, no team was head and shoulders better than the other teams," he said. "I told my guys I felt that there were two or three other teams, if they played well, could seriously challenge us. One was Hilton Head Christian and the other was Porter Gaud. Fortunately, for us Porter Gaud struggled the first day and were 20 shots behind." He continued, "Both the Hilton Head Christian coach and I agreed that this was probably going to come down the last nine holes on the second day to determine the winner."

After the match Baechtle took time to hand out some praise to his players. "Austin did his usual outstanding job. I've seen a lot of high school golfers over the past seven years and there is no one I would rather have as my anchor than him. Lushen did a great job as did Kamito, but special praise has to go to Doug Chickarello. Doug has made great strides this year especially since early in the season. We played in the big high school tournament, in March, and he struggled there shooting rounds in the 90's, for him to come into the state tournament for the first time, as a freshman, and shoot 76 and 79 was outstanding. I knew, coming in, were as good or better than most teams in the top three positions, our real wild card was our number 4 and 5 players. There is no doubt in my mind, that if Doug had not performed the way he did we would not have won."

Austin Cody was the individual champion for the AAA tournament with two even par rounds of 72. Lushen Evans, with rounds of 74 and 77, was named, for the first time in his career, to the SCISA All State team. In addition SCISA has selected Cody as its Golfer of the Year.