RHS golfers Blake Bendall, Joshua Seal, Luke Bendall, Aaron Jackson and Eli Hodges secured a win over Hatton this past Thursday. Photo by Randy Seal.

By Randy Seal

For the FCT

Russellville and Hatton played a one-hole playoff that resulted in a 10-4 win for Russellville at Thursday’s match.

Four of five players for Russellville bogeyed the playoff hole and Blake Bendall had the lone par. For Lawrence County, three of five players bogeyed the hole with the other two players scoring a triple bogey and quadruple bogey.

Medalist was Jesse Childress shooting two under par (34) and Aaron Jackson finished in second place with a one under par (35).

“Right now, I don’t feel we are as focused as we need to be,” RHS golf coach Jason Haithcock said.

“Course conditions and the weather haven’t been great but it’s the same for everyone. We can’t make any excuses if we plan on finishing this season in Prattville [site of 2014 State Championship]. We must do a better job of getting focused for every match.

But that’s not to take anything away from Lawrence County. They played a great match today and Coach Harris has always done a great job with that program.”

Final scores for the 18-round match were Russellville 155, Lawrence County 155, and Hatton 200.

Individual scores for RHS were: Luke Bendall 39, Eli Hodges 41, Blake Bendall 41, Joshua Seal 42. Top scorer for the JV team was Cameron DeArmen with a 39.

On Monday, the Golden Tigers picked up another win in their match at Cypress Cove in Muscle Shoals.

Final score for the match were: Russellville 318, Muscle Shoals 319, Scottsboro 335, and Lawrence County 363.

Eli Hodges was the medalist for the match with a score of 27. Aaron Jackson shot a 77, Joshua Seal shot an 82, Blake Bendall shot an 87 and Luke Bendall shot an 88.

Russellville will be back in action with an 18-hole match at Cherokee Ridge in Arab on Tuesday and an 18-hole match at Oxmoor Valley in Birmingham against Homewood and Spain Park on Wednesday.

The newly formed Russellville women’s golf team came in second place in Thursday’s match.

The Russellville girls shot a 184, behind Lawrence County’s score of 179 but ahead of Hatton’s score of 209.

Macy Reeves led Russellville with a 58, which placed her second out of 13 girls.

Haithcock said the Russellville girls are building momentum with a second straight second-place finish.

“I was glad to see Macy shoot in the 50s for the first time,” he said. “She has been working hard and I’m glad to see it payoff.

“After Monday’s performance, I had high hopes for the girls today but I feel like we took a step backwards. They are a young group and they will have many ups and downs but that’s part of the learning curve.

“If we can get three of the girls to shoot in the 50s on the same day, then they will have a really good shot at getting that first win. The potential is there, we just have to keep working.”