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57 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, May 7, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 7, 2005 North Medford�s Mike Barry is the favorite to win the SOC championship when it kicks off Monday at Eagle Point Golf Course. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Unfinished business North senior golfer Barry has found the SOC title to be elusive since winning it as a freshman By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune The sun, a spotlight, flipped on as if cued, and the spindly youngster basked. A second putt had just fallen. The par on the 18th hole gave him the Southern Oregon Conference golf championship. That was three years ago. He was a freshman. Surely, it was the start of something big. The other day, Mike Barry was reminded of the scene. He stared blankly at his fingers drumming a table. Behind him, through a wide window, sprawled Rogue Valley Country Club, where he’d soon practice. Advertisement His expression was wistful. "It hasn’t exactly been the perfect road," he said. It was his golf voice. Quiet. He didn’t look up. Barry is a senior now, taller, stronger, more in command than ever of the game’s requisite skills. Yet, given that, given his dominance of the conference since that grand rookie entrance, there’s a void. Where there should be at least two, possibly three, SOC titles attached to his name, there’s just the one. "I don’t know," he said, his voice still as soft as a short putt. "Everything seems to be peaking right now. Maybe I can get a second one." Maybe? The word jogged him from his reflective state, put some force in his tone. "I’m definitely not leaving high school with just one under my belt," he decided. "Especially one I got as a freshman." Barry knows not to take for granted his role as favorite in the SOC championships Monday and Tuesday at Eagle Point Golf Course. Not after the past two years, when the golf gods tooketh just as easily as they gaveth in 2002. As a sophomore, he led the district tournament by seven shots — after Day 1 — but was disqualified for starting a practice round on the tournament course shortly after his 3- under-par 69. As a junior, he blew up to a 78 in the first round at Roseburg Country Club, a course he’s been known to devour, and even the low round of Day 2, a 72, couldn’t nudge him higher than a tie for second place. As a senior, who knows? Nothing is owed him. "Mike has played enough golf to know you can never count on anything as a sure deal," said North Medford coach Kevin Klabunde. "The game is such a mental exercise that you have to approach it with a cautiousness. Otherwise, you’ll be on the outside looking in." Barry knows that feeling. But he also knows his drives have been longer and straighter the past few weeks. His irons seem attracted to the pins. Similarly, his putts swoon for cups. It started with a 67 in a qualifying round at Rogue Valley. Then came a 64 at Running Y in Klamath Falls, when "it seemed like I couldn’t do anything wrong," said Barry. He only needed 25 putts. "That had to be a career low for me." Throw in a couple of even-par competitive rounds and a bevy of sub-par practice rounds, and there’s reason to believe the drought is little more than a punch-drunk fighter on his last legs. Maybe it’s a matter of timing. Last season, Barry got off to a hot start, then seemed to press, said Klabunde, when he couldn’t duplicate his early success. Conversely, this year hasn’t come without it’s hitches, going back to the beginning of school. Barry wanted to attend a prestigious golf academy in Hilton Head, S.C., for half the year, then return and compete for North Medford. The Oregon School Activities Association prohibits such endeavors, however. He could do one or the other, not both. "It would have been hard to come back and just watch my school play golf instead of having something to do with it," said Barry. When the spring season began, Barry stumbled to an 80 in the first counting meet at Roseburg. So much for that low early round. "I didn’t find too many fairways that day," he said. In ensuing rounds, he’d struggle with one part of the game on a given day, but on said day, it was the part of the game he needed most. Driving, chipping, putting, didn’t matter. Oh, those prankish golf gods. But his fortunes would turn. Barry switched to a new driver, Callaway’s ERC Fusion, and fell in love with it. Working with Justin Wise, he’s added a slight pause at the top of his swing, improving tempo. An average iron player by his own admission, Barry has been firing at flags, getting close and giving himself birdie chances. He can pinpoint where it all came together. That relatively obscure, 5-under qualifying round at the club. "I think that’s all it was, getting that first really good round under my belt," he said. He’ll pack that confidence in his bag for district, which he enters with a stroke average of 74.20, more than two shots better than second-place Marc Goodell of Roseburg. On the one hand, Barry wants to approach it as just another tournament. But ... "All of me wants this one really bad," he said. The spotlight is waiting. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Paris Hilton Online Poker Auto Insurance Mesothelioma Slippers Student Loans Tatoo tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoos Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Payday Loans Advertisement s