Wooley fought through broken toe to help Bulldogs return to state; plus 4 more named to all-area team
LIVE OAK — The toughness and grit that Suwannee coach Damon Wooley preaches about his program was personified early this past season.
The night before the Bulldogs teed off their season at the Ancient City Classic at Marsh Creek Country Club in St. Augustine, they were dealt a bad break.
Literally.
Running down the hallway at the Jacksonville house they were staying in, sophomore Dawson Wooley’s left foot — or toe, more specifically — caught the corner of a doorway. The instant pain let Dawson Wooley know it was bad. Then he looked down.
“My toe was like completely bent back the other way, I was like, ‘that’s not good,’” he said.
When Damon Wooley got back to the house, the former student trainer at Florida State took a look at his son’s foot. He agreed that it wasn’t good.
“I said, ‘That’s probably broke, but you can do one of two things. You can either tough it out or sit it out. It’s up to you. I’m not going to tell you one way or the other,’” Damon Wooley recalled from that conversation in late August.
Dawson Wooley chose to tough it out. After originally not even sure he’d be able to walk, he limped his way around the course to shoot an 81, tying for 18th at the tournament to help SHS finish fifth as a team.
Sitting it out was an option he seriously considered, he said. But, ultimately, he said he had to choose the option that could possibly help his team.
“But it’s like if I withdraw, what am I going to do? Just sit there and ride in the cart all day,” he said. “If I withdraw, then I’m not going to be able to help my team at all. I just tried to go out there and do the best I could.
“It definitely crossed my mind because it was very, very painful. But I’m not one to just give up.”
That refusal to give up, as well as his play the rest of the season on a Suwannee team that featured three golfers within a stroke of each other’s average over the course of the season, earned Wooley the honor of being named the Lake City Reporter’s Boys Golfer of the Year.
In helping SHS to a Regional 1-2A runner-up finish and a return to the state meet where the Bulldogs finished 14th, Wooley averaged a 40 over nine holes. He twice earned medalist honors for SHS.
That included shooting a 32 at the Suwannee Country Club in a match against Madison County in October. But to Damon Wooley, his son’s best round was probably at the regional tournament where he shot a 75 to finish tied for fifth.
The week prior, Wooley had shot an 84 to finish tied for 17th at the District 2-2A tournament in Wakulla. It was a round that left him upset and disappointed.
Damon Wooley said it was a round that was the result of putting too much pressure on himself to try and shoot low.
The 75 the following week at the Country Club of Lake City helped the Bulldogs turn some heads with the runner-up finish, beating out the likes of St. Augustine and Lincoln.
“Bouncing back at regionals and putting up a good number and hanging in there until the end was clutch,” Damon Wooley said. “You’re coming off a very disappointing district finish and you realize you have to do this to make it to state. That was clutch.”
Clutch all year long for Wooley was his short game. Both he and Damon Wooley said his weakness is off the tee, where Damon Wooley said he was inconsistent throughout the season.
But thanks to his chipping and putting, he was able to scramble and salvage those scores that kept him in the running with Ty Hurst and Carter Cannon as the top golfer on the SHS team. Hurst averaged a 39.3 for the season with a pair of medalist honors while Cannon averaged a 39.8 and was medalist once.
That competitiveness between the three paid off for Suwannee as a team and also benefited Wooley individually.
“Me, Carter and Ty were flip flopping almost every other match. You always want to be No. 1,” he said. “That definitely helped knowing I had teammates that would help me and could pick up the slack.”
It also helped having a player willing to pick himself and others up too, even through some pain.
A Suwannee graduate himself who has coached multiple sports, Damon Wooley believes toughness and grit are key ingredients to success. He also said it’s something that SHS possesses that maybe some other golf teams do not.
Now he has a real life example to point to for how it can help make a difference.
“That’s the one thing we have going for us going up against some of these other schools,” he said. “I don’t think they’re bulldogs, I don’t think they have the grit.
“Maybe that’s the spark we needed. Are you going to be the guy over here sulking and pouting because you missed a 3-footer? Your teammate is over there playing with a broke foot. That gives you some fodder for the cannon to have those conversations.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
Dawson Wooley
Suwannee, sophomore
The LCR’s Boys Golfer of the Year finished the season with a 40.0 nine-hole average, was a medalist twice, and placed seventh at the Big Bend Championship despite battling through a broken toe all year. He finished tied for a team-best fifth place at the Region 1-2A tournament with a 75 after placing 17th in District 2-2A, and he went on to finish 62nd at the Class 2A state tournament.
Ty Hurst
Suwannee, sophomore
Had a team-best 39.3 nine-hole average and was a medalist twice during a regular season where he tied for fifth at the Big Bend Championship. Went on to shoot a 76 to place a team-best fourth at the District 2-2A tournament before tying for 13th in Region 1-2A and 63rd at the Class 2A state tournament.
Carter Cannon
Suwannee, junior
Had a 39.8 nine-hole average, tied for third at the Ancient City Classic, tied for 14th at the Big Bend Championship, and tied for a team-best fifth place at the Region 1-2A tournament with a 75 after placing 10th in District 2-2A. Went on to tie for a team-best 57th at the Class 2A state tournament.
William Slaughter
Suwannee, junior
Had a 41.0 nine-hole average, tied for 20th at the Big Bend Championship and was runner-up at the District 2-2A tournament with a 74. Went on to finish 29th in Region 1-2A before tying for 73rd at the Class 2A state tournament.
Cooper Kerby
Lafayette, 6th grade
Had a 40.2 nine-hole average and was a medalist six times in a regular season where he tied for a team-best fifth with a 75 at the 1A Public School Golf Championship. Went on to tie for a team-best ninth at the District 2-2A tournament before finishing a team-best 35th in Region 1-1A.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Damon Wooley, Suwannee
Led the Bulldogs to a 6-0 record in dual matches, including 2-0 against Columbia, as well as a third-place finishes at the Big Bend Championship and Suwannee Invitational. In the postseason, the Bulldogs posted a pair runner-up finishes at the District 2-2A tournament and Region 1-2A tournament before ending the season placing 14th at the Class 2A state tournament.