Lady Knights Golf Team, Rebels' Gregg Compete At State

SEVIERVILLE — The Chuckey-Doak Lady Knights golf team competed at the Class A state tournament on Monday at the Sevierville Golf Club in Sevierville. South Greene’s Kolben Gregg also made an appearance as an individual.

On day one, Gregg shot par on nearly all of his holes and birdied on hole 18. He sits tied at second with a 73, with Signal Mountain’s Brayden Helle in first place with a 71.

Chuckey-Doak was represented by Layla Fox, Harley Thompson and Kyleigh Crawford, who all had slow starts to begin day one. Despite that, Chuckey-Doak’s coaches Gene Ward and D’Lee Pollock believe that they overcame their rough start and played well overall.

The Lady Knights ended day one in fifth place as a team, with a total score of 191. Cascade leads the pack with a team score of 150.

“This is state,” Ward said. “This is the best of the best and they're all going to have jitters. It shows on the very first tee. They're human. And they settled down, and they got better. Still had a couple of bad holes, but that's going to happen after 18 of them.”

What might have played a role in those jitters is that no Chuckey-Doak girls golf team has made a state appearance since the 1978-79 season. There have been numerous individuals from Chuckey-Doak but it has been nearly a half century since the full team has qualified.

“It's very exciting,” Pollock said. “It's phenomenal. And it really has helped our community right now. To be able to look forward to something besides the disaster that's going on back home.”

After the first hole jitters, all three Lady Knights were able to recover and regain some of the lost ground. Fox rallied down the stretch to finish in 15th individually with an 85.

Thompson ended day one with a 106, taking 33th, while Crawford finished in 38th, shooting a 117.

“I think that Layla played a strong game,” Pollock said. “And for (Harley) to be a freshman and to have the game that she played today. I think that she did very well. She's going to be an up-and-comer.”

“Kyleigh really struggled with emotions today at first, but she was able to level out,” Pollock added. “And I think at the end of her round today, she was playing really, really good. So we’ll just keep her on that path tomorrow.”