FLEMING ISLAND - On his home course and after a week of some tweaking on his long game, Fleming Island High senior golfer Tyler Mawhinney showed state championship form with a dominating 64 (7-under par) win at the region 1-2A boys golf championships held Tuesday at Fleming Island Golf Club.
"I just worked hard this week to get better," said Mawhinney, the Class 3A champion two years ago, second in Class 2A last year. "I had so many 10-15 foot putts today. My drive was on today."
For Mawhinney and the Fleming Island boys team's chase to earn a third consecutive state title, step one was Tuesday, according to coach Bruce Cloud.
"The first thing we talked about is to just get to the state tournament,"said Cloud. "Winning by 13 strokes or winning by one stroke, or, as we did, getting a wild card bid, gets you the opportunity to win the state title."
Fleming Island finished with a team score of 290 with Tallahassee Lincoln second at 303 and South Walton third at 305.
There was a four man playoff scenario after the tournament finished to determine the wild card entries Wolfson, South Walton, Palatka and Suwannee all putting individual golfers on the bus trip to Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Lakes next week.
Mawhinney opened his day with 2-under par on his first hole with a massive drive to kick off the day.
"I was hitting bombs all day and setting up my greens for pretty good putts," said Mawhinney, who was set to leave to Kentucky for a training sessions with the US Mens National team. "The course was a lot better today because it was dry and cool all day."
Mawhinney progressed with his first nine holes to two birdies and pars to finished at 32 (4-under) with his back nine similiar with seven pars, an eagle and a birdie.
For the team, junior Will McGready was next at 3-over par, 74, and Senior Ryan Houck was one shot behind at 75. Senior Carson Moore closed out the scoring with a 77 and Senior Alex Blom(81) played but didn't figure into the scoring. The win was the third regional championship in four years for the team and automatically qualifies the team for a fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament.
Clay High had Jack Newell and Ian Garcia both finish 30th with 79 (8-over scores) with the Blue Devils ninth with a 326 team score.
In region 1-2A girls, at Quail Heights Golf Club in Lake City, Fleming Island freshman Sophia Moody, the district champion last week, got knocked out of a state tournament bid by Wolfson's Akery Paing, also a freshman, and second to Moody at the district tournament, and Ryan Donaldson of Suwannee High, as the Fleming Island girls season ended with a seventh in region finish. Middleburg, who won the district team title in playoff play over Fleming Island, finished fourth in a strong season for the Broncos, led by Braelyn Isbell all year. Isbell finished with a 13th place 85 on the par 71 Quail Heights course.
For Moody, who finished with a solid 73 for sixth place, was behind slew of under par finishes with winner Lily Chiang of Stanton winning with a 67, Paing at 68 and Neely Kight of South Walton and Donaldson both third at 70.
Fleming Island junior Shayla Abbas hit 83 for 11th place.

"Sophia may receive an at-large bid, we will know by Thursday," said Fleming Island coach Brian Nedrich. "She played decent but not up to her standards."
In region 1-1A, the St. Johns Country Day School boys team, led by freshman freshman Noa Bridges' ninth place 74 (2-over) and the recipient of a wild card team bid from a fourth place district finish, traveled to Pensacola and finished fifth behind a juggernaut of area schools with Providence winning in 292 by a point over Episcopal and by just seven points over third place Pensacola Catholic. Bolles and St. Johns, both in on wild cards, finished at 301 and 305 in one of the tightest team races in the state.
For the Spartans, Bridges had a career making morning to be the first Spartan with sophomore Beckham Cummings a stroke away with a 75 and eighth grader Fletcher Cummings in a 76.
Bridges opened with a bogie, though, then regrouped to knock out three birdies in his first nine holes and one more in the second nine. Cummings, who shot a 69 in the district tournament, had an uncharacteristic seven bogies for the day but still kept pace with the leaders with four birdies.
Fletcher Cummings opened with a birdie but double bogied on his third hole and finished with just one more birdie on 17.