The 2017-18 American Family Insurance ALL-USA Boys Golf Teams were selected based on performance and level of competition primarily at the high school level. Junior golf success was a secondary consideration, and those who did not compete regularly for their high school were not considered. Players from states that play in the fall or spring were eligible for selection.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Garrett Barber, The Pine School
MORE: FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM
COACH PROFILE:
Name: Alex Lockett
School: Mountain Brook (Birmingham, Ala.)
As the defending champion in Alabama’s Class 7A classification, Mountain Brook certainly had high hopes for the 2018 state tournament. The Spartans surpassed those high hopes by going low. So, so low.
Mountain Brook repeated as state champion with a stunning display as all four scoring golfers shot under-par in both rounds at the Robert Trent Jones Trail at The Shoals for a winning score of 544, a whopping 32-under-par, 20 shots ahead of rival (Birmingham, Ala.) Spain Park.
“We had a goal to have a one-day team score of 260-something,” said Mountain Brook coach Alex Lockett, the American Family Insurance ALL-USA Boys Golf Coach of the Year. “We did that the first day. The next day we kept the pressure on to win by 20.”
Freshman Gordon Sargent and junior William Wann took co-medalist honors, both shooting 11-under-par scores of 133. Reynolds Lambert, a junior, placed fourth with his 7-under 137 and sophomore Mac Scott was sixth at 3-under 141. The Spartans’ non-scorer was the team’s lone senior Ford Clegg, who shot a respectable 149. Clegg was the state champion a year ago.
“You can really never predict that kind of dominance, but I preached all year that we need to peak in May,” said Lockett, in his third year as the Mountain Brook coach. “I guess they were listening.”
In 144 combined holes of golf, the foursome of Lambert, Sargent, Scott and Wann produced 45 birdies, 11 bogeys and just one double-bogey over the two days.
Lockett previously was an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at Birmingham-Southern College, and as the interim women’s coach in 2013 he led the Panthers to a 10th-place finish at the NCAA Division II national championships.
FAN POLL: Who should be ALL-USA Boys Golfer of the Year?
LOOKBACK: 2016-17 ALL-USA Boys Golf Teams