The Parkway South Varsity golf team has concluded its regular season, and will hope to send a golfer to the State Tournament for the third year in a row after finishing as co-champions of both conference and districts during the interschool portion of its schedule.

After concluding the team season at the District Tournament on May 5 at Wolf Hollow, senior Brett Darland advanced to Sectionals on May 11 at Forest Hills. If he plays up to his usual standards, the next step would be the State Tournament on May 18 and 19 at Sedalia Country Club, where he will compete with the best golfers in Missouri.

According to head coach Adam Weiss, Darland will have a unique advantage at Sectionals-he is playing at the country club the he belongs to.

“I would say Brett has a very good chance to make state because he knows that course like the back of his hand,” Weiss said. “He knows how to handle pressure, and he knows what it takes to make the cut. He’s played that course his whole life.”

Leading the way for South this year have been Darland and junior Drew Faust. Darland has led the team in scoring for three out of his four years on Varsity, and is the only returning Varsity member with a trip to State under his belt.

“State is the most prestigious tournament in high school golf, so it would mean a lot to me to go again. Its a great experience and  very competitive so I’m looking forward to getting my opportunity,” Darland said.

Matching Brett nearly stroke for stroke has been Faust, who has had his best season as a high school golfer so far. After losing five seniors to graduation last year, Faust has grown into a leader on the team this season.

“The transition for me this year has been maturing. I have had to take my game to a new level. Playing on that team last year was incredible and I’ve had to teach myself to be more patient and willing to help because last year those players above me were the ones teaching me,” Faust said.

Although both Darland and Faust are very talented as individuals, being paired together as teammates has allowed the pair to push each other to be better.

“Brett and I get along very well and we feed off each other’s good play. Getting to play with him these past three years has been awesome, he’s been like a brother and he teaches me to be successful on and off the course,” said Faust.

Darland readily praises the way Faust has elevated his game this year.

“He has really stepped it up this year, and I see him as a leader in the program going forward,” Darland said.

After being the powerhouse of the conference for the past three seasons, the Patriots had to take a new approach while still earning a share of the conference title this year.

“Last year we had the mentality of being the number one team in our conference, but this year we are kind of the underdogs. We are a little modest but we still have the mentality that we can make it to state,” Darland said.

Faust and Darland have been the top individuals, but the team has also shown impressive depth, finishing top five in every tournament they played. The roster is rounded out by seniors Andrew Kniepmann, Sam Kaminski, Vinny Milburn and Nolan McCarthy, junior Joey Rosa and  freshman Hayden Crandall.

“We had a really good season. We were deep from top to bottom, guys like Sam, Vinny, and Andrew were great for us. We had to replace a lot of guys but this group really stepped up and contributed nicely,” Weiss said.

Despite the fact that the team will be left with only three returners going into 2016, Weiss is confident that South Golf will again live up to it’s reputation.

“We will have a lot of unknowns next year because we’re losing so many seniors again,” said Weiss. “But every year we find a way to reload and I’m sure we will be very competitive again.”