Individually, Benedictine’s talented golfers, Bear Dollander and Hamp Threlkeld, are problems for the competition.
Paired together in a new format at the Cadet 4 Ball Tournament, the duo helped host Benedictine sweep every category on Monday at Savannah Country Club on Wilmington Island.
Dollander, winner of the GHSA Class 4A state championship as a sophomore last spring, carded the round of the day with a 5-under-par 66.
Threlkeld, a senior, fired the third-best score for 18 holes, a 2-under 69.
Benedictine’s Hamp Threlkeld (left) and Bear Dollander pose for a photo at the end of the Cadet 4-Ball Tournament at Savannah Country Club. (Nathan Dominitz/For Prep Sports Report)
But with the annual Benedictine tournament’s conversion to four-ball from traditional stroke play, what mattered more was their score of 8-under 63. Golfers played their own ball, with the two-man teams counting the lower of their two scores on each hole – a format also called “better ball.”
“Bear made a majority of the birdies on the front nine, and on the back nine, I was able to help him out,” Threlkeld said. “It worked out.”
“We ham-and-egged good today,” said Dollander, using the term for partners playing complementary golf, alternating between good results over the round for a better team score, rather than matching each other’s numbers on various holes and being less balanced and competitive.
Cadets coach Kevin Halligan said in this format, if one teammate has a ball in play, the other can be more aggressive. If the first golfer’s ball is out of play, the teammate can be more conservative to lessen the risk of carding a big number on the hole.
“We call it brother-in-lawing,” said Halligan, in his sixth year as BC’s coach.
Dollander, who has verbally committed to Alabama, related how he talked his playing partner out of hitting a driver for his tee shot at the par-4 No. 10, which he called “a tricky hole.” They made par on a 5-foot downhill putt.
“Then on 14, he had the opportunity to hit driver off the deck again,” Dollander said of the par-5 hole. “I’m not going to talk him off of this, and it was the shot of the day. He hit it like 300 yards, right in the middle of the green. A driver off the deck. It was beautiful.”
Threlkeld said his shot one-hopped over the green and into a back bunker, then he followed with a shot within inches of the cup and made birdie.
The tournament took team scoring a step further, with each school’s overall total a combination of results from three two-man sides. Here, the Cadets’ top duo of Dollander and Threlkeld paced “Benedictine 1A,” which combined with Benedictine 1B (Dane Chadwell, Jack Weeks, 4 under) and Benedictine 1C (Alex Dao, Carson Hayes, 1 under) for a winning total of 13 under.
Change of pace on the grind
“This is the first time we’ve ever tried a four-ball event,” said Halligan, whose team is ranked No. 2 in GHSA in all classifications and No. 1 in 4A. “Just to give the boys something different, a little bit different format. They’re always grinding individually in team format.
“Trying to give them a little bit of a fun format, free them up and see some birdies go in before all of the teams hit area (tournaments) and get ready for state championships and give them some positive momentum.”
Savannah Country Day senior Caden Hartley had momentum from winning the Savannah City High School Championship a week earlier at Bacon Park Golf Course. Though he took some days off for the school’s prom over the weekend, Hartley shot even-par 71 on Monday.
Even better, his teammate, sophomore Kohki Maeda, posted the second-best score of the day, a 67, as the duo placed second behind Dollander/Threlkeld with a 66. In the team standings, the Hornets, ranked No. 8 in GHSA’s Private School classification, tied for second with Glynn Academy at 5 over.
“We’ve known them for a long time,” Maeda said of BC’s winning duo, who played in the same group as SCD’s top two. “We were just having a good time out there.”
Maeda said of his strong showing, “I figured out my swing on the range yesterday, then I just tried to keep it going.”
Hartley got to the essence of four-ball’s advantages when asked what he liked about the new format,
“Because I had a good teammate to back me up when I hit bad shots,” Hartley said.
“Our goal was we didn’t want to make any bogeys,” he said. “Kohki carried me a little bit today. I only shot even (par). He shot 4 under. We kind of made the birdies on the same holes. I didn’t avoid the bogeys. He managed to not make any bogeys.”
Savannah Country Day coach Matt Fitzgerald agreed, saying the pair could have gone lower but “did not ham-and-egg it.”
He said of Maeda, “He’s always steady but today was a particularly good day.”
Fitzgerald viewed the tournament, played in pristine conditions on Monday afternoon, as productive for all seven of the schools competing.
“This whole tournament today was just about a fun day, going into area, to relax and play with the guys they love to play with. That’s exactly what it was,” Fitzgerald said, thanking Benedictine’s Halligan for organizing the event.
Savannah Country Day sophomore Kohki Maeda (left) and senior Caden Hartley pose for a photo at the end of he Cadet 4-Ball Tournament at Savannah Country Club on Wilmington Island. (Nathan Dominitz/For Prep Sports Report)
The tournament featured 56 players and 28 teams, with Calvary Day having four golfers and not fielding three two-man teams.
Benedictine’s B team finished fourth overall at 11 over, followed by Toombs County (15 over), Savannah Christian (19 over), and a tie between Beaufort and Benedictine C (21 over).
Members of the Benedictine golf program pose for a photo at the end of the Cadet 4-Ball Tournament at Savannah Country Club on Wilmington Island. (Courtesy Benedictine Military School Athletics)
Cadet 4 Ball Tournament
Monday at Savannah Country Club
Individual leaders
Bear Dollander, BC, 5-under 66
Kohki Maeda, SCD, 67
Hamp Threlkeld, BC, 69
Caden Hartley, SCD, 71
Dane Chadwell, BC, 71
Jack Weeks, BC, 71
Two-man team results
Benedictine 1A (Bear Dollander, Hamp Threlkeld), 63
Savannah Country Day 1A (Caden Hartley, Kohki Maeda), 66
Benedictine 1B (Dane Chadwell, Jack Weeks), 67
Glynn Academy 1A (Will Orendorf, Walker Phelps), 69 through 14
Benedictine 1C (Alex Dao, Carson Hayes), 70
Glynn Academy 1B (Samuel Coleman, Will Howerton), 71
Calvary 1C (Eli Dean), E through 1
Toombs County (Drew Woodruff, Vick Moore), 74
Beaufort 1A (David Musselman, Hogan Wareham), 74
Benedictine 2A (Finn Nixon, Will Doyle), 74
Benedictine 2B (Anthony Demott, Heath Kulp), 74
Savannah Country Day 1C (Noah Goldstein, Thomas Clairborne), 75
Savannah Christian 1A (Jeremiah Eun, Drew Allred), 75
Benedictine 3C (Cole Wigger, Patrick Mahoney), +4 through 16
Savannah Christian 1B (Chris Park, Levi Henson), 76
Savannah Country Day 1B (Charles Morris, Miles Vaught), 77
Toombs County 3 (Clark Brannen, Gavin Ward), 77
Benedictine 3A (Trace Ward, Will Routhier), 77
Benedictine 2C (Chris Butler, Hamilton Moody), 77
Glynn Academy 1C (Ford Stanfield, Matthew Warren), 77
Toombs County 2 (Noah Anken, Rhys Ward), 78
Savannah Country Day 2A (Heath Barber, Sahaj Patel), 78
Beaufort 1B (Peyton Martin, Will Schoen), 80
Beaufort 1C (Grisham Stone, Landon Matchel), 80
Savannah Christian 1C (Dawson Wells, Nicholas Gaines), 81
Calvary Day 1A (Aiden Harrison, Ethan Long), 82
Benedictine 3B (Jack Doyle, Jackson Larner), 84
Calvary Day 1B (Jake Sheldon, Jeremy Zottola), 90
Lead Photo credit: Courtesy of Benedictine Military School Athletics
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