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Watkins wins 4th straight title
by JARROD SHERMAN - Sports Editor
Sep 21, 2007 | 304 views | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Apparently, the only thing that will stop Aaron Watkins from winning the Harlan County Golf Championship is graduation.

Watkins, a Cawood senior, won the event Thursday at the Harlan Country Club for the fourth consecutive year, compiling a two-day score of 71 to defeat runner-up Cody Hensley, also of Cawood, by 11 strokes.

"He's always done really good in (the tournament)," Cawood coach Ben Baker said. "He's improved from year to year. I would say he's easily one of the top golfers we have, not just in this area, but in the state."

Watkins led the event by seven strokes after Monday's first round, which was held at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Cumberland.

"It's always been closer than that in the past," Baker said. "I was happy to see him come in with that much of a lead, because it took a lot of the pressure off him, and it left him with some room in case he struggled. He was able to win with a comfortable margin."

Watkins participated in a pro-am event at Pebble Beach over the summer

"He's improved a lot from the summer," Baker said. "I think probably the one thing that's helped him most is Pebble Beach. He was playing with professionals, people who have won tournaments on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. They were pointing out things he could do to improve his distance and improve his game, and he's starting to apply a lot of that."

Harlan's Jake Middleton came in third with a score of 83. Rounding out the top five were Cawood's Blake Turner (86) and Harlan's Jerrid Pace (87).

Cawood handily won the team title, defeating second-place Harlan by 41 strokes.

After the tournament, an all-county team was selected by the county's coaches. The team included Watkins, Hensley, Middleton, Pace and Cumberland's Brock Leisge and Logan Early.

All three teams return to action next week in the regional tournament, which will begin Tuesday at the London Country Club. Watkins has narrowly missed qualifying for the state tournament each of the past two seasons.

"He's always been on the edge," Baker said. "I think this should be the year he's going to qualify, and the team as a whole, if they'll play to their potential, could actually make it into the state as well."

Team results include:

Cawood (328) - Aaron Watkins 71, Cody Hensley 82, Blake Turner 86, Greg York 89, Gage Mosley 95.

Harlan (369) - Jake Middleton 83, Jerrid Pace 87, Justin Parker 88, Andrew Ditty 111, Robbie Middleton WD.

Cumberland (398) - Brock Leisge 90, Logan Early 94, Justin Cornett 101, Hogan Goodwin 113, Logan McArthur 115.
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