Blakesly Warren, Patrick McDonald golf medalists in Baylor Preview

Baylor golf coach Gary Partrick stood under some cover as the rain poured down Tuesday morning at Black Creek Club.

He wondered when the second round of the Matt Cunningham Baylor Preview would start -- if at all -- and what sort of conditions the players would face when it did.

"At 7:30 this morning it was raining harder than it ever has in the history of mankind," Partrick said. "Except for at 7:30 last night."

Partrick's exaggeration switched to pleasure after his Lady Red Raiders won the girls' championship and his boys' team finished runner-up to Farragut.

The teams began playing -- with lift, clean and place rules -- at 9 a.m., after superintendent Scott Wicker's crew made it possible to play.

"We've got some talent in those other girls, and I think they'll get better every week," Partrick said. "I'm pleased with them. We try to break 150 every day, and we did that."

Senior Blakesly Warren made that possible. Warren was the girls' medalist by shooting a 6-under-par 138 for two days. Runner-up Samantha Griffith of Ooltewah finished 10 strokes back.

"It's a good start to the season for us to win, and we're going to keep working and getting better in everything we do," Warren said of her team, which beat runner-up Clarksville by 16 shots. "I hit a lot of fairways, I hit a lot of greens and my short game was pretty good."

Farragut won the boys' championship with similar ease. The Admirals shot a 593, which topped the Red Raiders by 17 strokes, McCallie by 21 and Briarcrest by 22 in one of the strongest fields of any Tennessee prep tournament of the year.

"We came down here to win because we are returning everybody except [University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman] Stuart Thomas," Farragut coach Jonathan Cox said. "We played well yesterday. Before today's round, I told them to be mentally tough, make no excuses and get the job done, because a lot of the field will be eliminated by the conditions."

The top three players in the race for medalist all know Black Creek very well. It's their home course.

McCallie senior Patrick McDonald continued a stellar summer and shot a 4-under 140. He topped Chattanooga Christian juniors Scott Stevens and Lake Johnson by one stroke.

"Hopefully it will lead to a good year and maybe a state championship," McDonald said. "We're good friends, and almost every day we play against each other."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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