Hudson Little, a freshman at Fairfield High School, placed fifth at the Regional Golf Tournament held at the Brenham Country Club April 16-17 to advance to the State Golf Tournament.
“Last summer, I set a personal goal to make it to state, all four years of high school,” Little said. “So, I am extremely excited to have achieved this first step.”
At Regionals, Little shot a 74 on the first day and a 79 on the second day for an overall score of 153.
Little will now compete at the State Golf Tournament at the Jimmy Clay Golf Course in Austin, TX on Monday, May 5, and Tuesday, May 6.
“I want to be competitive,” Little said when asked about his goal for state. “Obviously, you go with the hopes of winning. So, I want to play a good round on day one that at least gives me a chance to be in contention. During Regionals, I had a great first day. I was in third place and only a few strokes behind first. I had a rougher round on day two. I started out strong and at one point had pulled into the lead. But, around hole 15, I ran into some trouble and ended up falling back to fifth place. My goal is to play two good, solid rounds at state.”
“I’m extremely proud of Hudson, but from the beginning of this season I had no doubts,” Coach Kelly Ridge said. “Hudson is built differently. He is extremely smart and has all of the skills it would take to get to state. He is dedicated to his game and takes it seriously which is commendable especially as a freshman. Most of all, Hudson set goals for himself and the team this season, and he has worked hard to master them, both for himself and selflessly for the team as well.”
As a team, the Fairfield boys placed seventh overall. Chandler Phillips shot an 80 on both days for a 160 and an eleventh place finish. Cade Nelson shot a 96 on the first day and an 85 on the second day for a total of 181. Aaron Evans shot a 98 and a 101 for a total of 199. Laiken Carlson shot a 100 and a 101 for a total of 201.
When asked how long he has been playing golf, Little said, “Basically, my whole life. My parents have videos and pictures of me playing golf in the backyard and at the country club when I was as young as one year old. I think I was about seven or eight years old when I first entered a junior PGA tournament. I have played on and off since then. Until this year, I played multiple sports, so I wasn’t always able to really focus on golf. This year, I made the hard decision to stop playing other sports so I could dedicate more time to practicing.”
“It’s fun. I really think I just like all aspects of it. I don’t always have a good round. I may not always hit certain clubs well. But, I like the challenge of trying to figure out what I need to do differently next time,” Little said when asked why he liked playing golf. “This was the first time I have had the opportunity to compete with a team. That is a whole new level of fun. Now, instead of just thinking about how I am going to play in a tournament, there is a group of guys that I get to work together with on trying to achieve a goal. Advancing to regionals with my team was a lot of fun.”
Ridge says she is very proud of the team as a whole, both the boys and girls.
During the girls tournament, Haddie Owen placed eleventh overall with a score of 196; 100 on day one and 96 on day two. Zada Pjetrovic garnered seventeenth overall with a score of 206; 102 on day one and 104 on day two.
“Our girls competed well,” Ridge said. “Going into regionals as a Top 3 boys team brings a lot of pressure, and while a couple of our kids didn’t have their best tournaments, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. It just wasn’t our year,” “We will miss our seniors so much - Zada Pjetrovic, Chandler Phillips, Cade Nelson, and Eli Owen.”
Ridge sends a big shout out to the entire coaching staff at FHS.
“They have been so great about sharing athletes and supporting these kids,” Ridge said. “Without that, we would not have had the success we had this season. At a 3A school, sharing athletes is paramount to whole program success.”
“I just want to thank Coach Ridge for everything this season. She’s been awesome, kept us on track and is always there for us. Coach Terry and Coach Worley have also been super helpful with their tips and support,” Little said. “And a big thanks to Tri-County Country Club for backing me and other junior golfers around here. It really means a lot.”
Hudson Little, a freshman at Fairfield High School, took fifth place overall to advance to the State Golf Meet. Little is the first male goldfer to ever advance Courtesy Photo
