Dingle shoots 77 for medalist honors
Roberto M. Esquivel | Herald-Standard
Beth-Center’s Taylor Dingle watches his ball travel on the fifth-hole green during Monday’s Section 8-AA golf qualifier at the Greene County Country Club.
Liam Shea, a freshman at Carmichaels High School, tees off at the No. 8 tee at the Greene County Country Club Monday morning for the section 8-AA golf qualifier. (Photo by Roberto M. Esquivel)
Roberto M. Esquivel | Herald-Standard
California’s Michael Luketich watches his ball after teeing off on the fifth hole during Monday’s Section 8-AA qualifier at the Greene County Country Club.
WAYNESBURG — Taylor Dingle is hoping his medalist round at Greene County Country Club will lead to bigger and better things in the weeks ahead.
Dingle, a senior at Beth-Center, rode a solid round on the challenging par-72 layout to medalist honors at the Section 8-AA WPIAL boys golf qualifier Monday.
His approach was quite simple, although likely easier to say than to accomplish.
“I just kept everything on the fairway and stayed away from putting up any big numbers,” Dingle said. “This is the third time I’ve made it this far, but I lost in the next round the other two times.”
The qualifier sends the top five finishers to the WPIAL Class AA individual championships, to be held Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Sewickley Heights Country Club.
Dingle fired a steady 77 and will be joined by two Charleroi golfers (Gunner Riley, who shot 80, and Mike Kondratik, who shot 82), as well as Carmichaels freshman Liam Shea, who shot 82, and California’s Michael Luketich, who shot 83.
No other golfer beyond the top five could match the 81 needed to advance.
Dingle capped his solid round with a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-5 No. 16 hole at GCCC.
“My goal is to make states,” he said. “I got this far really just by hitting a lot of good shots today and my short game was really on. I worked a lot on my short game this summer and it paid off today.”
“Liam golfed very well, especially for a freshman in his first time at it,” said Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs.
“For a young kid, he plays a lot of golf and it showed. It really helped him today.”
Shea got a birdie on his last hole to lock himself into the WPIAL championships.
“I played well,” Shea said. “It was really a culmination of everything. I just played pretty solid golf.”
And the young gun is anxious for the next round of competition, which is certain to get better.
“It will be good to see how my game stacks up against the better competition which I’m sure I’ll see in the next round,” Shea said.
For Luketich, qualifying was a bit of redemption after he missed doing so by one stroke last year. He said while waiting for other golfers to finish that he hoped his score would hold up.
“I didn’t play my best golf today,” Luketich said. “I wasn’t hitting greens in regulation, but my putting bailed me out. I made a lot of 6-footers, so my short game was key.”
An overnight rain helped the Greene County Country Club course play truer.
“This course is in great shape,” said Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis. “The pins were in good places and we had a good pace from the kids.”
Beth-Center athletic director Barry Niemiec served as host, even though his team plays at a different course. He, too, was impressed with GCCC.
“It’s a beautiful course and the conditions were great,” Niemiec said.