by Cliff Mehrtens



David Sargent craved team success in a sport that’s heavy on individual glory.

This golf season, Sargent excelled in both aspects. Sargent, a senior at Hough High, was the top individual golfer in the I-MECK 4A conference and helped the Huskies reach the state tournament as a team.

He is the Herald Weekly’s 2012 Boys Golfer of the Year, the second consecutive time he’s won the award.

“The overall goal was to participate as a team, so getting to play at states was icing on the cake,” Sargent said.

Sargent was named the conference golfer of the year based on his 34.6 scoring average in nine-hole tournaments. The toughest competition came from his teammates, who combined with Sargent to dominate the I-MECK 4A season. Hough’s Peyton White had a 35.5 scoring average, followed by Conner Lewis (35.5), Seth Gandy (36.1), David Yang (36.2) and Clay Brown (37.7).

The Huskies took turns winning individual honors at conference tournaments and often held the top five or six spots on the leaderboard. Sargent routinely was at the top.

“I played a lot of tournaments last summer,” he said. “Seattle and in San Diego. There were some pretty good fields. I think it was a natural progression of things that helped me improve. You learn your game the more you play.”

Sargent learned as a junior that he was glad to qualify for the state tournament as an individual. But he thought about how fulfilling it would be to share that with Hough teammates. This year, the talented Huskies made it happen.

Hough finished fifth in the N.C. 4A tournament in May at Pinehurst No. 8, one of the region’s most prestigious courses. The Huskies were 20 strokes behind champion Raleigh Broughton. Sargent’s two-day score of 149 was solid, and tied him with six others for 13th place in the individual competition.

“It wasn’t what we were hoping for, but it was good to qualify as a team,” Sargent said.

Sargent signed to play at Davidson College next fall and is preparing his game for the rigors of college competition.

He’s scheduled to play in several amateur tournaments this summer against college players.

“I’m not trying to do anything crazy,” he said. “Stick with the things that made you a good player, and improve them. I’m not as long a hitter as some people think I might be. I guess I’m a little more conservative. My driving’s pretty good. My wedges and short game are pretty good. Irons and putting determine how good my round’s going to be.”

Sargent said he began playing golf “at age 2 or 3.” Like many youngsters, he dabbled in most sports, and concentrated on baseball, basketball and golf. By middle school, Sargent said, he decided he’d need to dedicate himself to a single sport.

Sargent picked golf. It’s proved to be a wise decision.