Beever to play with state's best

n The State Overall Tournament will be played Thursday at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock.

Anthony Reyes/NWA Democrat-Gazette Siloam Springs junior Brinkley Beever will be competing in the State Overall Tournament held Thursday at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. Beever finished third in the Class 6A State Girls Tournament in Jonesboro on Sept. 26-27.
Anthony Reyes/NWA Democrat-Gazette Siloam Springs junior Brinkley Beever will be competing in the State Overall Tournament held Thursday at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. Beever finished third in the Class 6A State Girls Tournament in Jonesboro on Sept. 26-27.

Brinkley Beever will be playing golf this week with the best high school girls in the state.

Beever, a junior at Siloam Springs, is among the 21 girls golfers participating in the State Overall Tournament, which will be held Thursday at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock.

Beever qualified for the event after a third-place finish at the Class 6A State Girls Golf Tournament at Jonesboro Country Club on Sept. 26-27. The top three finishers in all seven boys and girls state tournaments qualify for the State Overall.

Beever said she's excited for the opportunity to play with the state's best golfers.

"It's really kind of satisfying I guess," Beever said. "I've worked hard the past three years, and this was my goal for this year -- to get to the Overall. To have accomplished that goal makes me very, very happy."

Beever is the third girls player in Siloam Springs history to reach the Overall, joining Emery Rakestraw (2011) and Shelby Crawley (2013), both of whom accomplished the feat in their senior years.

Beever is a year ahead of both of them as a junior. She shot a two-day total of 173 (85 and 88) at the state tournament to finish third in the event behind Jonesboro's Mary-Claire Meredith (85-77-162) and Greenwood's Sydnie Gamble (82-83-165), who will also play in the Overall this week.

Meredith and Gamble won't be the only familiar faces in the tournament for Beever. She's also played with 7A state champion Kate Robertson of Bentonville and 7A runner-up Casey Ott of Conway.

"It's kind of nice to play with friendly faces," Beever said.

What will be unfamiliar is Pleasant Valley Country Club, a course that Beever has not played before.

"I've heard it's pretty tight and kind of hard," Beever said.

The contestants will have an opportunity to play a practice round today before the 18-hole tournament on Thursday.

Siloam Springs head golf coach Michael Robertson said the Overall is almost like a college prep event.

"Each year at the Overall, out of the 21 kids, there's at least 10 to 15 kids that are going on to play at the next level," he said. "Brinkley is definitely one of those this year. ... You're playing against the best in the state, and it's an opportunity to go play another extremely nice course. Some may consider it the nicest course in the state. It's another opportunity for her to be challenged and to improve and to see where she ranks against the best players in the state."

Beever finished the year with an 85 stroke average over 18 holes, but she held an average of 82.1 through September, including the state tournament. Robertson said Beever was playing her best golf at the end of the season.

"She made some swing changes in the offseason and we knew it was going to be a process," Robertson said. "Every match she got better, and she kind of got in a groove there at the end where it felt like she was breaking 80 with a chance to be around 75, 76, every time out."

Robertson said Beever's length off the tee will play to her advantage at Pleasant Valley.

"They play it at a pretty long yardage, longer than anything we've played all season," he said. "It's longer than the state tournament yardage. Like I said because it's a college prep-type tournament, she'll get an opportunity to play there in front of some college coaches and get some exposure there. I'm excited for her for the opportunity."

Sports on 10/12/2016