By Charlie Bergmann: Staff Writer

"These guys can play," a spectator said at the 17th tee at the Mid South Club Tuesday afternoon.

The O'Neal School's Michael McGowan and his two playing partners had just dropped their tee shots on the 170-yard par-3 in half of a semicircle within 10 feet of the flag.

The scene was the NCISAA 2-A state golf championships. Arendell-Parrott Academy of Kinston won the team title in the two-day event with a score of 592, seven strokes better than second-place Fayetteville Academy. O'Neal, the defending champion, finished eight strokes back.

McGowan was the best of the best individually, earning medalist honors with rounds of 70-72 -- 142. Hunter Howell of Fayetteville Academy and Travis Marion of Westchester Academy finished one stroke back with two-day totals of 143.

A freshman, McGowan finished in third place in the event the previous two years at Talamore with the same even-par scores of 142.

"Michael is a great young player and he's only going to get better," O'Neal coach Jon Hazelwood said afterward.

O'Neal began Tuesday's second round tied with Arendell-Parrott for second place, two strokes behind Fayetteville Academy. The Falcons' Jack Ulrich, the medalist in 2003 and 2005, picked up an early quadruple bogey on the way to an 80. A 74 by Stefan Streckfus and a 77 by Lyman Woollens completed the team's second-day total of 303.

McGowan took the turn Tuesday at 1-under. On the par-4 13th hole, he had some fun with a small group of spectators that didn't know a local rule applicable to the tournament allowed golfers to take practice swings in fairway bunkers.

After his first swish through the sand, his ears picked up anxious chatter about potential penalty shots.

"When they got up to three," he said, "I just took more and more. It was pretty funny."

He turned the situation into a sand save after putting his shot from about 160 yards in the middle of the green. He stuck his approach shot to within 4 feet and made birdie on the next par-4 before running into trouble on the gorgeous and visually daunting par-5 15th.

"My nose was bleeding and I just made a bad swing," he said of a hooked second shot that put him in the hazard to the left of the green.

Deep into weeds and other prickly stuff, McGowan came up empty with his first swing. But he found the green on his second and made a bogey.

He was zoned in the rest of the way.

He made a two-putt par from about 8 feet on 16. Just inside 10 feet after the threesome put on the show on 17, he chose to lag the slippery downhill putt and take a par. On 18, he knocked a three-quarter 9-iron into one of the hills on the multi-leveled green and two-putted again.

McGowan earned all-state honors for the third time, while Ulrich was recognized for the fifth time. He and Ulrich, who will play golf at Furman beginning in the fall, both got tossed into the lake in front of the 18th green after the last threesome finished.

It took most of the Falcon team to dunk McGowan, but former O'Neal golf coach John McDougald carried the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Ulrich to the water's edge all by himself.

"That kid has had six years of great high school golf," said McDougald, the director of golf at The Mid South Club. "He helped carry the school for six years and now he's passed the torch to Michael, which is the way it should be. It was a big splash to end his career. Now he can move on and play college golf at Furman, get a great education and move on with his life."

O'Neal and Arrendell-Parrott each have two state titles in the last four years. Hazelwood said that the team would like to have gotten Ulrich a state championship in his last year.

"The hardest thing about next year," he said, "will be to fill the huge shoes of Jack Ulrich. He truly is a rare breed, and I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach him for two years.

"My players are disappointed today, but they will look back on this year and realize how far we came from the beginning."

The Falcon scores of 297 and 300 in the state tournament were their lowest of the season. The 74 by Streckfus and the 77 by Woollens on the second day were their season bests. Teammate Bert Subin, who had rounds of 76-80 -- 156, was the medalist when O'Neal won the Triad Conference tournament a week earlier.

An interested spectator was Corrine Carr, who helped O'Neal win its 2005 title.

She will also attend Furman next year after accomplishing her senior year with a combination of home schooling and taking courses at Coastal Carolina University.

Team results

Arrendell-Parrott 592, Fayetteville Academy 599, O'Neal 600, Westchester Academy 604, Cape Fear Academy 622, Carolina Day 626, Kerr-Vance 637, Northside Christian 641.

All-State