Shooting for more

Hickman senior Chris Johnson has amassed an abundance of accolades during his golf career.

He won a district championship as a freshman and sophomore. He’s qualified for the state tournament in all three of his years at Hickman, finishing seventh last year. At 17, Johnson won Columbia’s city championship. And he placed 40th in the U.S. Junior Amateurs last summer outside of San Diego.

His resume was impressive enough to land him a scholarship to play at MU next year.

“At first I didn’t really want to go here. But the community has really been pulling for me, and I will be trying to play for Columbia,”

Johnson said after shooting two stokes over par at the Columbia Classic at A.L. Gustin on Monday.

“There are a lot of people in Columbia supporting me, and I want to stay here and play for them.”

Hickman coach Clark Swisher is one of those supporters. Swisher said that many good golfers have graduated from Hickman, but Johnson is “right at as good as there have been.”

Swisher looks for Johnson to improve on last year’s seventh-place finish in state.

“He’s going to be one of the top three or four players in the state. It will be hard-pressed for people to beat him,” Swisher said.

Johnson said he is hesitant to talk about personal goals for the season.

“I’m not trying to focus on myself. I want Hickman to be a great team, not a good team, and that’s what we will be working on.”

Swisher also said that even though Johnson is an excellent golfer, his most important characteristic kicks in when he is struggling.

“His best attribute is he’s a grinder. If he’s not playing well, he can grind through it anyway,” Swisher said.

Johnson had to grind a little Monday.

“My short game was bad today, and that added probably about four strokes, but I stayed focused and finished OK,” Johnson said.

Swisher compares Johnson’s mentality to that of a good defensive back.

“If he does hit a bad shot, he forgets it and goes on,” Swisher said.

Johnson’s teammates have also noticed his mental toughness.

“He doesn’t have any give up in him at all,” said junior Nick Wilson, who finished 2-under par, earning second in the 14-team tournament.

As a team, Hickman finished fourth with 290.

“We are playing about where I expected right now. We’re not as deep and strong as last year, but we’re good,” Swisher said.

Rock Bridge also competed in the tournament, finishing in a tie for sixth with Rolla at 295. Junior Joe Neal led the Bruins, shooting 2-over par.

Rockhurst was the overall winner, shooting 279.