Dyersburg's Morris finishes 17th in Class A State Tournament

Dyersburg sophomore John David Morris (left) wrapped up his golf season at the TSSAA Class A State Tournament. Morris, shown with Dyersburg Head Golf Coach Kavin Carr (right), finished 17th in the state which marked the highest individual finish for a Trojan golfer in almost 20 years.

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On the strength of a three-over-parr opening day on Monday, Dyersburg sophomore John David Morris wrapped up his season at the TSSAA Class A Boys State Golf Tournament with a 17th place finish, shooting 13 over par for the two-day tournament.

“He has tremendous work ethic,” Dyersburg Golf Head Coach Kavin Carr said. “John David works at it tirelessly it seems. We can play an 18-hole match and he's anxious to get back to the course and at least get in nine more.

“Even if it's not that, he's at least going to make it to the range or get out and practice putting. He just lives it. It carries over to see how well he has progressed over the year.”

Morris set the tone for much of his state tournament play early, coming off the first nine holes of the tournament just three shots over par, including two birdies and three even pars out of the first nine. Morris improved on the final nine holes of the first day, shooting over par only twice down the stretch while recording two birdies and five parred holes to close out his day still at three over. One of the birdies also came on a par 3.

Carr talked about how Morris progressed from last year's tournament to this year.

“After day one last year, he was at 105,” Carr recalled. “Then he shot in the high 80s on the second day.

“He made that improvement and then to jokingly make the remark walking off the course on Monday that he made a 30-stroke improvement over last year at this time.”

Carr noted while Morris being a sophomore does help in dealing with the pageantry of the event, this being his second year helped with the improvement.

“Being that he was able to make that transition from day one to day two, it ignited something extra in him,” Carr explained. “He came back home last year and really went to work even further.

“On Monday, when he saw that he was in the top ten - you've got a chance of being eligible for junior pro-am – a lot of thing start kind of mixing in. I think he put a little extra pressure on himself. I think his shot selection was still good but just some of those he wasn't able to pull off like he did on day one.”

After the opening day of the tournament, Morris found himself tied for seventh place overall.

Morris returned to the course on Tuesday and repeated his score from the first nine holes of the tournament. Though he only recorded one birdie on Tuesday during the first half of the 18-hole course, it came on a par-4. He also parred five of the first nine holes on the second day of the tournament.

On the final nine holes of the tournament, Morris went one over par on three of the first five holes while parring the other two then shooting even on the next two holes. But, the sophomore struggled on the final two holes, shooting two over on each of the last two holes to finish 13 over par for the entire tournament.

“He was looking forward to having a really good second round and he did have a good second round,” the Trojan head coach explained. “He had a few difficult shots that cost him strokes here and there.

“But, in any case, I liked his shot selection and his aggressiveness. He made some good shots to put him into birdie contention and even eagle contention on one or two holes. To say that – that confidence – carry over into his game, he played really, really good golf.”

Morris' finish was the highest by a Dyersburg golfer since the 2005 tournament when Trojan golfer Bryan Mitchell finished in ninth place in the Class A-AA Tournament.

“To finish like he did, I was super proud of the way he carried himself,” Carr added. “Dyersburg was very well-represented. He represented himself, his family, and his school. Just a really positive demeanor this past week.

“I think he wants to go back as a team. I think he sees the difference it makes when you go as a team versus when you go as an individual. Ace (Mahaffey) enjoyed that his last year. He said it makes a world of difference, especially being able to accomplish the region win along the way. I think he's going to be driven to get his teammates in that position. We were so close to going back this year and just missed it. I really think we stand a chance of being in contention for that next year.”

Carr added with the new classifications coming out soon, it leaves some things uncertain.

“But, to be going into this next season and having five juniors that have some really good experience under their belts, I think we stand in a good position where we can do some good next year as well,” Dyersburg's head coach said.