HIGH SCHOOL

Female Golfer of the Year: South Gibson’s Sally Tiger

Craig Thomas
cthomas2@jacksonsun.com
South Gibson's Sally Tiger is The Jackson Sun’s All-West Tennessee Female Golfer of the Year.

Qualifying for the state golf tournament is a big deal by itself, but for multiple reasons South Gibson sophomore Sally Tiger preferred this year’s trip to her first one.

She was South Gibson’s only qualifier for the Class A-AA state tourney in 2014, but this year she and sophomore teammate Bentley Davis qualified as a girls’ team and junior teammate Zach Sellers made it as an individual.

“It was just really fun,” Tiger said. “We were all together, and [Davis] had always wanted to go. She had wanted to go to state really bad, so I’m glad that we all ended up getting to go.”

The results were more fun this time, too. Tiger improved upon her 29th-place finish as a freshman with a 10th-place showing this fall, fulfilling her season-long goal of a top 10 finish at state.

It capped a strong season for Tiger, who is The Jackson Sun’s All-West Tennessee Female Golfer of the Year.

“I achieved the goal,” Tiger said of her top 10 finish. “I was pretty satisfied after the whole thing.”

It was no surprise given what Tiger did in the preceding weeks, shooting 77 at the district tournament and 82 at the regional tournament at The Farms in Dyersburg.

She took the individual title at each event, beating Milan’s Autumn Webb in a playoff at the regional. She and Davis dominated the regional as a team, beating South Fulton by 20 strokes.

South Gibson is coached by Matt Bean, who coached Tiger when she was in middle school and was also her eighth grade history teacher.

Tiger’s father, Andy, taught himself how to play when he was in college, and she started playing as a sixth-grader. He gives her lessons, but she also likes playing on her own to customize a technique that works for her.

“Lots of people take lessons and the coach kind of has one swing they want them to have. My swing is kind of like my own unique one,” she said.

She plays at Humboldt Country Club, and she said the new driving range there has helped her a lot.

“I really appreciate the course, and the members are so nice out there. I really appreciate everybody out there,” Tiger said. “The members are always asking me how I’m playing.”

Lately, she’s played pretty well.

“My long game I’ve never really had a problem with, and it’s always just pretty solid most of the time, but short game, you can just always improve that,” Tiger said. “It’s crazy, you think you improve, but you can just always get better at it.”

She credits her short game work and less nervousness for her two-round 168 this year at state. She shot 188 as a freshman.

Tiger has goals of finishing in the top 5 at state next year and top 3 as a senior. She is interested in possibly studying engineering in college, and she said as of now she’d like to play golf at a school that offered it as a major.

But she has two years left to help South Gibson golf reach greater heights. Three newcomers are on the way to join Tiger and Davis, including Tiger’s younger sister, which could help South Gibson improve upon this past year’s sixth-place team finish at state.

“We’re going to have a lot bigger golf team, so it should be good having them on the team next year,” Tiger said. “They’re all pretty solid, and they’re definitely going to get better as they get older.”

Craig Thomas, 425-9634

South Gibson's Sally Tiger finished 10th in the Class A-AA state tournament.

ALL-WEST TENNESSEE FIRST TEAM

Hannah Bratton, TCA

Shelby Hatchett, USJ

Frances New, USJ

Autumn Webb, Milan

Jill Yates, USJ