D-III GOLF: 90 golfers from 27 schools are set for state

May 7, 2018 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


The tee times for the Division III Golf Championship are set for this Tuesday and Wednesday at the Omni Tucson National Resort. 90 golfers, from 27 schools, are scheduled to play including defending champion Frankie Capan.

The Northwest Christian senior drew interest from Oregon, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and SMU but he fell in love with Alabama, feeling the program gave him the best opportunity to succeed. The Crusaders won the team championship last year, 599 to 604 over the powerful Valley Christian squad with Capan winning the individual title by four strokes.

Valley Christian is favored to take it all this week as the automatic qualifier from Section 6. The other automatic team qualifiers (listed by ranking) include No.1 Snowflake (Sec. 1), No. 3 Northwest Christian (Sec. 4), No. 4 Desert Christian (Sec. 7), No. 6 Yuma Catholic (Sec. 2), No. 11 Safford (Sec. 3) and No. 19 Northland Prep (Sec. 5).

Valley Christian junior James Mackie is the top-ranked D-III golfer in the state, Scottsdale Prep freshman Davis Johnson is ranked second and Capan is third.

Valley Christian won four straight state titles from 2013 to 2016 and Mackie was the state individual champion in 2016 as a freshman. The Trojans came out on top at the High Desert Invitational, held April 27-28 in Prescott, over Northwest Christian with Mackie outlasting Capan by two strokes, 141-143, but Capan won the Metro Invitational last week by 12 strokes over Johnson.