May 15, 2012
Freshman Stephen Saleeby of Raleigh Broughton held on to capture the individual title in the 76th annual North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 4-A men’s golf championships at Pinehurst number eight on Tuesday.
Saleeby fired a five-under par 67 on Monday to race to a five-shot lead over the field and then carded a 73 on the final day for a 140 total, two shots ahead of Pinecrest's Joshua Martin. Martin had a 69 in the final round.
Andrew Klasing of Charlotte Ardrey Kell and Broughton's Harrison Rhoades tied for third at 144, and Klasing then birdied the first playoff hole to earn the third place medal.
The championship was held on a par-72 layout set at 6,698 yards for the NCHSAA event.
Raleigh Broughton, which had a string of five consecutive state titles from 1998 through '02 and last won it in 2004, fired an outstanding team score of 288 on Monday to carry a 12-shot advantage into the final day of play. The Caps then held off Pinecrest to finish with a 582 total, just three shots ahead of the runners-up. A Wake County school has now won the 4-A men's championship 13 times in the last 15 finals.
Charlotte Myers Park was third at 597 and Ardrey Kell fourth at 599. Cary Green Hope, which won the 4-A team title four times in the last six years, finished sixth. The best four of six individual scores count toward the team total.
Prior to 1986, all NCHSAA schools competed for a single title in an open tournament. Play went to three classifications in 1986 and then to four classes beginning with the 1998 tournaments.
A total of 84 golfers began play in the two-day tournament.
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