The recently completed high school golf season ended with upper state teams winning four of the five classification championships.

The best senior golfers on those teams and other upstate teams kept the winning going with a convincing victory in the annual North-South All-Star matches, presented by the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association.

This year the top seniors from the upper and lower state matched up at the Litchfield Beach and Golf Club on Pawleys Island.

The Ryder Cup style matches included alternate shot, best ball and singles matches played over the weekend.

“We had some great kids and outstanding golfers with us on both teams this weekend,” said North coach Zack McCrary. “They were a fine group to be around,” he added.

The North and South teams played the alternate shot round to a draw at 2-2, but in the best ball matches the upper state golfers took control.

“We had some natural teams with guys who were friends or played golf together. The chemistry on those pairings was really great,” noted McCrary.

The North stretched their lead to 5-3 at the end of the first day with singles matches remaining.

McCrary had a game plan for the final round. He asked previous coaches for their advice before the event and called on his recollections of Ryder Cup matches to help set his final lineup for singles.

“We had the lead and we wanted to see if we could put our most successful golfers from the first day out early,” said the coach.

2021 AAA champion Daniel Brasington from Woodruff and Matthew Hutto from Blythewood were first out in the final round and both produced wins.

“Daniel was three down in the match, but came back late to get the win, that really helped us,” said McCrary.

Brasington and Hutto were joined by Barrett Josey from Byrnes as golfers who won all their matches. Josey’s win combined with a victory by Christ Church’s Jack Wofford put the upstate golfers one point away from the win.

Wade Hampton’s Brad Ricker won the deciding match to give the North the all-star match victory.

“The people at Litchfield were terrific and made it a great weekend. Coaches Roger Smith and Chip Whitt did an outstanding job of setting everything up for the kids to have a great experience,” Said McCrary.

The North won the match 11-5

North Team: Griffin Tarver – Fort Mill, Zach Phillips – Boiling Springs, Eli Ricker – Wade Hampton, Daniel Brasington – Woodruff, Trey Howard – Woodruff, Barrett Josey – Matthew Hutto – Blythwood. Head coach Zack McCrary, Assistant coach Mickey Deering – Byrnes

South Team: Walker Devers – St. James, Jackson Harling – Strom Thurmond, William Broughman – Aynor, Luis Thompson – West Ashley, Maverick Mullins – Lexington, Charlie Beiers – Lexington, Palmer Robbins – Sumter. Head coach Patrick Wilkinson – Aynor, Assistant coach James Cate – Stratford