South Carolina High School teams in 4A held their qualification tournaments today around the Palmetto State.

Teams could only win the right to advance to the 36 hole state finals next Monday and Tuesday.

Teams and individuals are in effect Upper State champions as other sports offer the honor, but in golf it is only a mythical title won as teams prepare for the state championships next week.

Lower classifications did not have qualifying tournaments this year after the South Carolina High School League bi-annual realignment changed the classifications for many schools.

Most notably, many traditional 3A schools moved up a classification, eliminating the need for an upper and lower state qualifying tournament .

AAAA Upper Qualifying at Willow Creek

The Blue Ridge Tigers finished on top of the qualifier at Willow Creek in Greer. The Tigers shot a 340 total to finish five shots in front of the Daniel Lions.

After a season with several difficult finishes, Blue Ridge closed out the qualifying tournament with a win, their second in a row at the event.

“We finished second four times during the year and in just about everyone of those tournaments we had a lead and could have won,” said Blue Ridge coach Randy Cisson. “We were not able to close it out, but today we did and hopefully it will help us at state,” he added.

Last year Katelyn Cox from Blue Ridge had the top individual score in the qualifier. This year she and three other golfers, Ansley Bryson from Seneca, Callie Lawton from York and Spencer Harvey from Fountain Inn, all carded 78s to tie for the top spot.

This year, Cox believes the Tigers will be more comfortable and be able to play better at the state championship than they did last year.

“It was our first time at state, but now we are more experienced and we know what to expect,” she said. “We all want to play our best and getting a team win would be great for us,” Cox said.

The Upper State will have nine teams going to the state championship to be played at the Rose Hill Golf Club just outside of Hilton Head.

AAAA Lower State Qualifying

The Upstate golfers will be competing against the defending classification champion from May River.

The Sharks were topped by Hilton Head High School in the lower state 4A qualifier at Crescent Point Country Club

Only four teams qualified from the lower state. Hilton Head 313, May River 315, North Aiken 343, Beaufort 393.

Claire Green from May River and Lexi Milbrandt from Hilton Head posted the low scores as each shot 71.

“We may have more good teams in the upper state, but a couple of the teams in the lower state are still the teams to beat. We saw how good they are last year and we are hoping to play better this year and maybe have a chance to beat them,” said Cisson.

Upper State AAAA Qualifiers — Blue Ridge 340, Daniel 345, Camden 348, Fountain Inn 350, Seneca 376, Travelers Rest 384, AC Flora 385, Wren 388, Pickens 397.

Three individuals also advanced to the state finals from the tournament at Willow Creek. Callie Lawton and Rasmine Dismukes from York and Jaley Coates from Emerald.

5A Division II Upper State Qualifying at Chester Country Club

Eight teams will advance to the 5A Division II championship to be played at Smitfields in Easley on October 28-29.

TL Hanna – 308, Catawba Ridge – 340, Eastside – 346, Easley – 352, Indian Land – 352, Ft. Mill – 360, Nation Ford – 369, Greenville – 375. Individual qualifiers: Lillian Rivers (Northwestern) , Maddie Jones (Greenwood). Leah Weathers (Gaffney), Caitlyn Leonhardt (Woodmont).

5A Upper State Qualifying will be played on Tuesday October 22