By Rubin E. Grant
Homewood sophomore golfer Jack Lowery couldn’t have picked a better time to have his best round of golf.
Lowery fired an 8-under par 64 on the opening day of the Class 6A state tournament and then came in with a 35, which was 3-under par, on the next day. He finished with a 27-hole total 99, 11 under par, to capture low medalist honors in the boys competition in the weather-shortened 2024 AHSAA State Golf Championships at the Robert Trent Jones Trail Golf Course at Florence.
“That’s the lowest round I’ve ever had, by one stroke,” Lowery said. “I hit the ball really good, and I didn’t make any mistakes.”
Homewood coach Jason Haithcock has come to expect great things from Lowery, but even he was impressed by Lowery’s 64.
“To see Jack score 8-under, I wasn’t surprised, but to see him do it on the biggest stage in high school was impressive,” Haithcock said.
Lowery, who has been on the Patriots’ varsity golf team since the seventh grade, became the first Homewood golfer to win an individual state title. He finished one stroke ahead of Cullman’s Ben Shedd, who shot a 65 the first day and a 35 the next day for a two-day total of 100.
The tournament had to be reduced from 36 holes to 27 because of weather.
Lowery’s performance enabled Homewood to finish with a two-day 424 total and edge UMS-Wright (438) and claim the 6A boys state championship. The title is only the second in school history for the Patriots, with the first one coming in 2016.
“It took a special two days,” Lowery said. “We knew we had to play our best. We played our best round of the year when it mattered the most.
“It means a lot to win it individually, but it wouldn’t have meant as much if the team hadn’t won. To have the team win is awesome.”
Homewood senior Jonathan Peters shot 70-37 – 107 to finish fourth.
“Jonathan led us in scoring most of the season,” Haithcock said. “He’s one of the greatest leaders on any team I’ve ever coached. We had a such a young group with three sophomores and a junior, and he treated them on the same level as him.”
Junior Kaman Rouse tied for seventh with a two-day 112 total. Sophomore Andrew Woods tied for 12th with a 114 total. Rounding out the Patriots’ group was sophomore Alex Wahl, who had a 121 total.
“It was pretty special to see our five guys come together and shoot the scores they did down the stretch,” Haithcock said. “We had a good season, but we didn’t become a top tier team until the last four weeks when we caught fire. I had not seen the potential of winning the state championship until then.”
Peters said, “We had something to prove. No one would have thought that we would be in this position at the beginning of the season. I think it was clear we wanted it the most.”
Mountain Brook had two golfers finish in the top 10. Ryan Pugh carded a two-day total of 109 to take fifth place and Jackson Skinner totaled 111 to finish sixth.
