By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Those who followed the 2006 Class 3A state golf meet probably thought they were still stuck in 2005.
This year's meet, which concluded Tuesday at Mobile, had the same team state champ, the same team runner-up and the same third place team. It also had the same individual state champ, the same individual runner-up and the same third place finisher.
It also included the same team finish for the T.R. Miller Tigers, who came in sixth place out of eight teams with a team score of 718. One noticeable difference for the Tigers this year was a 16-stroke improvement from last year's competition held at Opelika. T.R. Miller had identical rounds of 359 Monday and Tuesday.
Montgomery Academy cruised to its fourth straight state team championship with a final tally of 650, 13 strokes better than Leeds' runner-up total of 663.
Lauderdale County was a distant third at 695, while Good Hope completed the top half of the field in fourth place at 699.
T.R. Miller was in fifth place after day one, but Sardis had a 21-stroke improvement day two and passed the Tigers for that fifth place spot with a score of 711. After T.R. Miller checked in with its sixth place score of 718, Rogers finished seventh at 730 and Glencoe was eighth at 760.
Montgomery Academy's Hunter Hamrick successfully defended his individual state title with a two-day total of 147. Hamrick won his crown by 10 strokes over last year's runner-up, Steven Sinclair of Leeds. Sinclair wound up at 157.
T.R. Miller senior Tripp Owens overcame a sluggish day one with a strong performance day two. Owens was 10 strokes back and in 13th place after day one with a score of 85, but he bounced back with a one-over-par 73 Tuesday to finish third with a score of 158. Only Hamrick, who shot an even par 72, had a better score than Owens had day two.
James Dixon was next for T.R. Miller. Dixon had rounds of 86 and 89 for a two-day total of 175, good for a tie for 21st place. Hayes Martin had rounds of 88 and 96 for a two-day score of 184, which landed him in 30th place. Clay Parker had rounds of 100 and 101 for a final score of 201, which put him in 42nd place. Brooks Fussell shot rounds of 104 and 102 for a total of 206, which put him in 46th place.
With all five players in the T.R. Miller program being seniors, Owens is not sure where the program will head.