COLUMBUS — Heritage Academy’s return to golf has been a resounding success this season, qualifying for the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 5A North State tournament on April 17 at Cleveland Country Club.

It was a goal that the Patriots had coming into the year, but one that shocked the team once qualifying. 

Despite not qualifying for state championships, it was a strong season from the program.

“We were really happy to be there,” Heritage Academy head coach Bill Gates said. “That was not an expectation going into the season. We surpassed our goal for the season to even qualify to be there. … We knew it was going to be a tough road to states, playing schools like Lamar, Bayou, Starkville Academy.”

Heritage finished sixth of the eight teams to qualify for North State, shooting a 357 as a team, coming up just less than 20 strokes short of qualifying as a team for the Class 5A championships.

While the Patriots didn’t qualify as a team, freshman Jack Rye qualified individually for states, held at Brookhaven Country Club on April 25.

“We didn’t have our best round at North State,” Gates said. “Several of the players did show improvement on their scores. … Jack qualified as one of the top four individual scorers at the tournament.”

Rye had a strong showing on April 25, shooting an 85, which put him in a tie for 14th overall among the 56 individual golfers who qualified for state.

“He went in with no expectations really,” Gates said. “He just tried to get the best performance he could. He knew he was up against some top individual golfers. He played an excellent game. He struggled a bit on the front side, but he turned it around and played a strong back nine.”

Year one of Heritage’s return was a great starting point and Gates is looking to build upon that foundation in the years to come.

“I’m incredibly excited,” Gates said. “I’m just looking forward to next season to see what we can put out on the golf course.”