South River's Josh Eure Wins Maryland Golf Title

South River's Josh Eure and La Plata's Jay Dove both had wide smiles following the final round of the Maryland state golf championships yesterday at Potomac Ridge in Waldorf. Good buddies over the past three years through tournaments on the local circuit, it was tough to tell who won and who came in second. Two pals playing in the same foursome on a sun-splashed afternoon seemed enough.

The seniors started one stroke apart as the deciding round began -- Dove ahead by one after a first-round 75 -- but the opening holes proved telling. Eure, the Maryland champion as a sophomore in '06, made three straight pars; Dove flew the green on the first hole and made bogey, then hit his tee shot on the second into the water en route to double bogey.

Eure had an opening -- a two-stroke lead -- and ran with it, dissecting the back nine with four birdies en route to a 2-under-par 71 (two-round total of 1-over 147) and a five-shot victory over Dove, whose 77 earned him second place at 152. Will Wiseman, a senior at Parkside in Salisbury, played a solid front nine and was tied with Eure for a time on the back nine. But a bogey on the par-3 15th, moments after Eure had drained a 10-foot birdie on the same hole, derailed his shot at the title, and he finished tied for third (77-76 -- 153) with North Harford's Ryan Triller.

"If I didn't win it, I'd want Jay to be the guy, since we've been so close over the last few years," said Eure, who will play golf on a scholarship at the University of Arkansas next year.

Eure birdied three straight holes on the back -- the par-5 13th, the par-4 14th and the par-3 15th -- to wrap up the individual crown, and said he could tell from the way Wiseman "was walking that he was playing well."

"I know Will's a strong player . . . I knew I had to go under par [for the round] to make sure I had it."

Dove also made a birdie on the par-3 15th with a 12-foot putt, and was looking to put pressure on Eure on the par-5 16th when he hit his drive into the woods. He made bogey to douse any comeback hopes.

"I wish I had those shots [on Nos. 1 and 2] back," said Dove, who also said he plans on playing college golf but is undecided where. "It's a little disappointing never having won a state championship."

Smithsburg junior Haeun Lee was three strokes behind Arundel's Lauren Smith when the final round began, but Lee made three birdies en route to a 2-over 75 to win the girls' individual title at 10-over 156. Smith was second at 160 after a final-round 80.

Champs Again: Churchill had won five straight 3A/4A team titles (2002-06) before being dethroned by Whitman last fall. The Bulldogs reclaimed the state championship yesterday with a team score of 662, 19 strokes better than La Plata. Close to Home: North Point, located just a few miles from host course Potomac Ridge, used local knowledge of the links to its advantage, winning the 1A/2A team title (659) by a whopping 36 strokes over second-place Glenelg.