When Fountain Inn High opened three years ago, Horton started a golf team mostly on hope. “We had three girls that first year,” he said. “Didn’t have to make any cuts. Just needed players.”

Sometimes the best way to measure how far a team has come is by looking at one of its players — not always the best one, but the one who’s been there from the start.

For Fountain Inn girls golf coach David Horton, that player is Mabry Thompson.

One of those was Thompson. She already liked the game, but she was still new to competition — same as the team.

“Mabry was one of our first golfers and she’s still here,” Horton said. “And today she shot her personal best, a 79.”

That 79 didn’t win the individual title at the Upper State 4A Qualifying Tournament at Southern Oaks, but it helped Fountain Inn post its best-ever showing, a team score of 330 — just three shots ahead of perennial power A.C. Flora.
For a school that once struggled to field a team, it was a finish worth celebrating.

From Barely a Team to County Champions

The Fury’s story started small. In the beginning, Horton had a few borrowed athletes — softball players mostly — just to fill the lineup. But by their second season, the group had learned enough to surprise everyone, winning the Greenville County Girls Championship.

“That was when people started to notice us,” Horton said. “It kind of told the girls they belonged.”

The program’s biggest boost came when Spencer Harvey joined the team. Harvey wasn’t switching sports — she was already a golfer. Her win in the Greenville Country Junior Championship gave Fountain Inn credibility and gave the rest of the team someone to follow.

“Spencer’s clearly our number one,” Horton said. “She’s a good golfer and a good example. And Mabry’s been learning right alongside her.”

Learning and Believing

Over three seasons, Fountain Inn has gone from learning how to compete to proving they can. The Fury haven’t piled up trophies, but they’ve been close enough to know what it feels like to be in the mix — and that matters.

Fountain Inn doesn’t have any seniors — junior Kaylee Robinson will be the school’s first four-year golfer next fall — but experience is starting to show. The players have been in tournaments, traveled across the state, and now they’re heading to Hilton Head Lakes for the state championship.

For Horton, that’s what the program was meant to be: a place for young players to grow and find their confidence, one round at a time.

And for Thompson, shooting a personal-best 79 while helping her team post its best team score was a reminder that she and the Fury have grown up together.

“Three years ago, we were just trying to play in something,” Horton said. “Now we’re trying to win something. That’s a big difference.”

South Carolina HS 4A Scores