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The LaGrange golf team had two of the very best golfers in the 4A classification for 2024. Sophomore Saxon Chastain and senior Ty Ormsby played in the Georgia High School North/South All-Star Tournament at Sunset Country Club in Moultrie last Tuesday through Thursday. 

The two Grangers helped Team South to its third straight victory, winning 22-14. Both Chastain and Ormsby went 1-1 at the tournament.

“It was fun. I didn’t know it was gonna be playing in it until the Monday before,” Chastain said, chuckling. “Shoot, me and Ty have been playing together since I was like six years old, so it was fun to go out there one last time with him.”

“The course was super nice and I’m so glad I got to play with Saxon one last time,” Ormsby said. “Saxon was the main reason why I started playing better golf because I was trying to chase him the whole time. He pushed me to be a better golfer.”

This was not the only postseason award/honor the two received. Chastain was named All-State Honorable Mention by the Georgia High School Golf Coaches Association.

“I don’t think about that stuff during the season. I just go out there and try and play my best and let everything else handle itself,” Chastain said. “It means a lot to me to (win awards), but at the same time I feel like I did what I was supposed to do.”

Ormsby earned an extra special honor as he earned a spot on the golf team at Andrew College. It was a surprise that came quite late in the recruiting process.

“So I emailed the coach and was like, Hey, I know I’m very late in the game, obviously, because I was planning on playing soccer in college the entire time,” Ormsby said. “The coach told me that they needed a couple more guys and asked me down for a visit and we hit it off from there.

“It felt so great when they made me an offer because I didn’t think it was going to happen to be honest.”

Ormsby took his game to a new level this season. Down the stretch of his senior season, he was leading the team in scoring in almost every tournament.

“In the last month and a half, Ty played probably the best golf in our program,” LaGrange coach Ben Thrasher said. 

Ormsby cut his scoring average down by nearly 20 strokes.

“My scoring average per round was right at 78 this year and last year it was like 98 or 99 and it was really awful,” Ormsby said. “It was not fun to be honest, but I started playing a lot more golf

For the past three years, Ormsby split time with soccer where his attention was mostly focused. Feeling burnt out on the sport, Ormsby decided to focus on golf, which frankly runs in the family as his sister originally played soccer in college before transferring to Point University to play golf.

“I got really burnt out on it because I had been playing soccer since I was a little kid and travel soccer since I was 10,” Ormsby said. “I kind of followed in her footsteps because she went to Columbus State to play soccer and then ended up going to Point to play golf.

“I ended up making the decision just a week before soccer tryouts.”

Chastain’s focus has always been on golf. Since he could pick up a club it’s been the sport for him. He broke onto the scene as a freshman and only continues to get better as he heads into his junior year at LaGrange High. 

“I feel like I got a lot more mature, especially towards the beginning of the season,” Chastain said. “I didn’t really have any bad rounds and the ones I had were a lot better than my bad rounds last year.”

While the season is wrapped, golf is far from over for Chastain and Ormsby this year. Both are already mapping out their summer tournament schedule and Ormsby will be starting his college season in the fall.

“I will probably play three to four tournaments during the summer and there is a lot of pressure and not as fun as high school because you’re alone out there and don’t have your guys to cut up with,” Chastain said. 

One of those tournaments Chastain will play in will be the Georgia amateur qualifier.

Ormsby will also have a packed summer full of golf.

“I’m playing in the West Pines classic. That’s a Georgia PGA event. So, I’m not playing in the junior events anymore,” Ormsby said. “My dad will be playing in that one too and we are hoping to be paired on the first day together because that would be a lot of fun.

“The big one is going to be the qualifier for the Georgia Open and I will probably have to shoot 73 or 74 just to qualify.”