Sports

Chung, Smith could power Darton’s ’08 title hopes

• Darton freshman Jin Chung and sophomore Matt Smith seemingly are hitting their strides as the top-ranked and three-time defending NJCAA Division II champion Cavaliers prepare for this year’s tournament.

Scott Chancey

ALBANY — The top-ranked Darton College golf team’s seedings have been like a merry go round with not one player settling on one spot.

Regardless of where Cavaliers freshman Jin Chung and sophomore Matt Smith are seeded when the program attempts to win its fourth consecutive NJCAA Division II championship next week at Phoenix’s Palm Valley Golf Course, the two appear to be the team’s best chances of earning medalist honors. Smith was medalist in the regular-season finale at Stonebridge Golf & Country Club with Chung tied for second with Andy Lewis. Chung then won the individual region title last week in Helen and Smith finished second.

Coach Dale Dover, however, wants possible individual honors to be an afterthought.

“I want them to think about the team,” Dover said. “They’ve just got to go out and play their best and not get ahead of themselves. They need to think about the team. If you take care of the other things, that will take care of itself.”

Consider this, however: Darton, in two of its three national title wins, had a player also win first individually. Current Valdosta State golfer Brent Witcher set a tournament record in 2005, winning by a tournament-record 12 under par. After Witcher placed second as a sophomore in ’06, Bill Jones III won last year’s medalist honors.

Having a player contend for the individual crown has gone hand in hand with winning the team championship. Chung, who also won the fall tournament at Fort Gaines and the Spring Fling in Scottsboro, Ala., before winning region, is ranked fifth in the country with a 73.813 scoring average. Smith, who did not play in last year’s national tournament in Scottsboro, Ala., is ranked 34th (73.813).

The Stonebridge win is Smith’s only one in college. A top-five finisher in state at Colquitt County High School, Smith struggled with confidence most of this year.

“Toward the end of last summer, I felt like I kind of lost my game,” Smith said. “I had to start over. I guess I got really frustrated with myself not playing like I knew I could. I wasn’t playing close to my potential in the fall and it was like I was hacking around playing with a handicap. So that wasn’t fun, and when you’re not having fun, you’re not going to perform well.”

At the time of the Stonebridge tournament, Smith felt his confidence was, “Sixty percent. It wasn’t that high to tell you the truth.”

Smith finished that tournament 1 over par; but after making double bogey in one of the rounds, he did not let that rattle him. From that point, he learned to play holes one at a time and his game dramatically improved. He even signed a letter of intent earlier this week to continue his golfing career at Mercer, which already has Jones on its team.

Chung, who was part of last year’s GHSA Class AAAAA state championship team at Duluth’s Northview and placed fourth individually, was named medalist at a Scottsboro event that is traditionally one of the stronger junior college events.

“It was a big tournament, and we played against a lot of strong schools so that gave me a lot of confidence,” Chung said.

Now that Chung also is the reigning region champion, the timing seemingly could not be better for his mental game as he prepares for Phoenix. Dover, however, pointed out that Chung scored a 77 Wednesday while freshman Evan Hanna scored a 68.

Dover has not revealed the order of next week’s seedings, but seedings may not mean much next week. Jones, while earning last year’s medalist honors, was the Cavaliers’ No. 3 seed.

As always with Dover, it’s more about the team than the individual.

“If all five don’t play their tail off, we’re not going to win,” Dover said. “Individual stuff will take care of itself. You just take things one at a time and keep working hard.”

More Sports>>