April 15 was a very good day for the DHS boys’ golf team. For the first time in several years a team member gained the honor of individual first place in an invitational golf tournament. Senior Austin Williams accomplished this by scoring a 76 on a 18 hole course with four over par. For all you non-golfers, this means that he only hit the ball 76 times during the tournament when the expectation for the course was 72 par.

This accomplishment has not happened for several years. Although the boys’ golf team is still successful, an individual has not won a tournament for three or four years.

Williams was able to shoot two over the front nine, and then continued that streak over to the back nine. This resulted in the overall score of 76.

“There’s some pretty good teams there and usually it takes about a 73 to win it, and everyone else came in higher and it was the best he shot so it was pretty exciting,” head coach Tod Hessong said.

Williams has been working hard throughout the season to improve his skills and game. Even with the bad weather that has cancelled essential practices and games, he has been able to find time to practice on his own.

“He has been working with a golf coach at Shadow Glen Country Club. He was been really working on his short game a lot these last couple weeks and he was able to get up and down which he did a number of times during the tournament,” Hessong said.

Even though practice has really helped Williams with his game, the mental attitude played a big role in his accomplishment.

“After the tournament he talked about his focus. He didn’t worry if he had a bad shot or a bad lie, he was just focused on hitting the next best shot possible. I think that is what really spurred him to that good score,” Hessong said.