Elizbeth Funderburk, shown playing at Sunset Country Club over the weekend, went to Kinderlou and fired a round of 74 against her region competition Monday.

VALDOSTA – It may not go down in official records – GHSA or region – as a “championship,” but Colquitt County High junior Elizabeth Funderburk still proved she is the tops when it comes to striking and putting a golf ball among anyone who would call herself a region competitor.

Region 1-7A held its championship tournament Monday at Kinderlou in Valdosta, and Funderburk registered the low individual round of 74. The Lady Packers as a team tallied 273 to finish in second place behind Lowndes’ 264.

For Colquitt County, Grace Jarvis scored 96 and Madison Willis 103.

Starting this year, however, region golf tournaments do not advance any teams or players to the state championships. Instead, the GHSA is staging area qualifying tournaments, and for Colquitt County that is April 24 at Spring Hill in Tifton.

So, Funderburk didn’t get a ‘low medalist’ award for her efforts Monday. She has won region for the past two seasons.

“We call her a low medalist,” said Lady Packer coach Matt Key, who said Funderburk hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation, knocked in a few birdies but had one double bogey. “She was striking the ball well.”

To qualify for state in this area event, Key said a team must finish in the top half of the field or score 300 or lower. He said he does not see that as a problem for the Lady Packers, who will play Spring Hill in the Tift County Lady Blue Devil Invitational this week.

Packer boys also second in region play

VALDOSTA – How good is a golf team when the No. 1 player only contributes the third-best score …. and they still win overall in an impressive manner?

Camden County High scored 294 on Monday at Kinderlou to win the Region 1-7A tournament. That was 13 shots better than runner-up Colquitt County, the Packers scoring 307. Tift County was third at 311 and Lowndes totaled 315.

Peyton Clark tied for third individually with a round of 73, and Tanner Brown was one shot behind at 74. Also in the Colquitt total were Lance Blanchett’s 79 and J.W. Griffin’s 81.

Camden County had two players go the 18-hole round in red numbers. Neal Thacher was first overall with a 68, and Chase Weathers cared 70.

And according to Colquitt coach Donald Dale, the golfer who is usually No. 1 for Camden came in with a round of 76. Dale said he was also under par but down the stretch scored three double bogies.

“We did O.K.,” said Dale about the Colquitt County play. “We have not done 294. That’s a great score. Camden just handed it to everyone today. We can play better.”

And while this also was a region tournament that did not have any bearing on anyone’s state tournament prospects, Dale said it will pretty much be a region tournament when the area sectional takes place May 1 at Spring Hill. Dale said there it is going to be a nine-team field in all, and the top three teams will move on to the GHSA 7A championships.

“I don’t think anyone from Region 8 can beat us,” said Dale, noting that not all the schools from this region are going to have a team in the area field. He said if it was a full field, then the top five teams would qualify for state.

The Packers will play this weekend at the Thomas County-Central Invitational in Thomasville.