By Jed Blackwell, Associate Editor/Publisher

Sometimes a small change makes a huge difference.

That was the case for Chesnee golfer Peyton Lawter over the weekend.

After playing with coach Adam Jolley in a church tournament on Saturday and struggling with his putting, Jolley had a suggestion for his pupil.

Make a change.

So, Lawter did just that. And armed with a new flat-stick, he went out and shot 68 at Woodfin Ridge on Monday, taking medalist honors in the Spartanburg County Tournament.

:”Coach Jolley told me on Saturday that my putter wasn’t set up for me,” Lawter said. “My dad gave me his old putter, and it changed a bunch. I probably made the most one-putts I’ve ever made in a round today. I think I probably only had two or three two-putts all day.”

He often wasn’t leaving himself very much work to do, either.

“I hit a bunch of good approach shots,” he said. “I hit some good chips. It all just kind of came together.”

When he added up his twin 34s, Lawter got a little emotional.

“I was kind of in shock,” he said. “I cried a little bit when I saw the card because I think I shot a 95 in this tournament last year. It’s great to come back and shoot the score I shot today.”

Behind him was a logjam at 73, which Spartanburg Day’s Grainger Amick claimed on the 11th scorecard tiebreaker.

Spartanburg’s Hugh Lemonds and Emmett Walsh shot identical rounds of 73, leading the Vikings’ run to a round of 299 and the team title, defeating Boiling Springs by nine shots. Spartanburg Day was third with a 316, Chesnee followed at 317, and Byrnes rounded out the top five at 325.

Lemonds and Walsh both said they thought they played well, but left some shots on the course.

“It was kind of a funny round, honestly,” Lemonds said. “It was windy, but the course wasn’t too long.”

“I played pretty good,” Walsh said. “I struck the ball pretty solid. I think we’re playing pretty well as a team. All of us are just kind of pushing each other to keep getting better.”

Connor Williams added a 74 for Spartanburg to join Walsh and Lemonds on the All-County team. Davis Petty shot 79 for Spartanburg, and Ben Fulmer shot 80.

Boiling Springs’ Clayton Taylor and Lawson Miller and Chapman’s Will McCraw rounded out the All-County team.

Spartanburg County High School championship scores

Wren leads the Hurricane at Southern Oaks

Wren High School shot a 296 first round total to take the opening round lead in the 36 hole Hurricane Invitational at Southern Oaks,.

The Hurricanes holds a four shot lead over Christ Church going into the final round with Blue Ridge, Maulin and the defending tournament champions from Greenville rounding out the top-5 teams.

Individually Garrett Gillespie from Wren posted a 4-under par 68 to match Richard Anacierio from Aiken to share the lead by two shots over William Jennings and Groves Williams from Christ Church at Wren’s Dylan Park.

First round scores and second round Live scoring is available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XzfU9JWVLOnpbh-mEG5lbQH8Z9MyGnMH/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105169256232826811970&rtpof=true&sd=true