BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Year in and year out, the public schools with the best boys golf teams aren’t going to challenge for a state championship. Most likely, those teams won’t even qualify for the Florida High School Athletic Association’s state tournament.
That’s the harsh reality. Teams from schools such as Bradford, Keystone Heights and Union County simply can’t make an impact on a class dominated by private schools.
“Our kids need something for their own,” KHHS Coach Ryan Begue said.
They do now, with the creation of the Florida Class 1A Public School Golf Championship, which will be held Oct. 25 at Quail Heights Country Club in Lake City.
Begue describes it as “a championship that is on an even playing field.” Rankings on iwannamaker.com that take into count team average and course difficulty will be used to select the top eight public-school teams. The top six individuals who aren’t members of those teams will play in the public-school championship as well.
“I’m really excited about it,” Begue said.
The 1A public schools, which are still part of the FHSAA, were allowed to have a championship tournament as long as the word “state” isn’t used. The tournament also doesn’t interfere with the FHSAA postseason. The public school championship will be played prior to the start of FHSAA district tournaments.
“We still want to be a part of the FHSAA,” Begue said.
Begue said he began thinking of an event for public schools only when he considered his inaugural season as the KHHS coach in 2023. The Indians had a 13-5 regular-season record and added seven more wins in claiming their third consecutive district championship before the season ended with a seventh-place finish at the regional tournament.
To qualify for state, teams either have to place in the top two at a regional tournament or earn an at-large bid.
“We weren’t even sniffing that,” Begue said of an at-large bid, noting that despite its successful season, Keystone was still ranked outside of the top 40 in Class 1A.
Begue said in a closer examination of Class 1A boys golf, less than 40 of approximately 143 teams are “traditional public-school teams.” He then looked at the rankings of teams in all three of golf’s classifications, discovering that the private schools that play in 1A were “predominantly better than the 2A and 3A schools.”
“Some of these kids are coming from across the country and from out of the country to play golf here (in Florida),” Begue said of the players at 1A private schools.
The idea for a public-school championship was pitched to some of his fellow coaches. Begue said Lafayette Coach Robbie Kerby was “really excited” and credited him with being a driving force in creating this season’s inaugural championship.
“He’s as much of a spearhead on this as I am,” Begue said.
Begue gave thanks to the coaches who’ve supported him in this endeavor and especially praised the efforts of the two other boys coaches in the Telegraph-Times-Monitor coverage area — David Duncan of Bradford and Patrick Maxwell of Union County.
“It’s good to have a bunch of guys who work well together and do a good job of promoting junior golf in our area,” Begue said.
Begue is seeking sponsors to help support the 1A Public School Golf Championship, noting he wants to be able to provide trophies as well as lunch.
“We want to make it special,” he said.
If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor or learning more, please contact Begue at [email protected].
