Platte County senior Braden Hendee ended up with the right combination of scores to win the individual title in Tuesday’s Suburban Conference White Division Championships, even as the Pirates came up just short in the team standings again. He became a four-time all-conference performer but needed a scorecard playoff to decide medalist honors.
Platte County senior Braden Hendee hits a practice shot after the Suburban Conference White Division Championships this past Tuesday on The Rock Course at Country Creek Golf Club in Pleasant Hill.
For the fourth consecutive season, Grain Valley won the White Division team title, posting an impressive 296 on The Rock Course at Country Creek Golf Club in Pleasant Hill. The Eagles put all five players in the top seven with senior Jack Blair posting a 1-under 71.
However, Hendee’s 71 held up as the conference championship round after he posted an impressive five birdies overall. He previously finished tied for third, sixth and 10th in his first three White Division tournaments.
“I started out a little bad, kinda with a three-putt bogey on the first and then got things back in check. Kinda had a good day,” Hendee said.
Platte County finished with a 307 team score, and sophomores Nick Cangelosi (76, sixth) and Bryson Hevalow (77, tied for seventh) joined Hendee as all-White Division performers in debut rounds. Jack Dillingham, another sophomore, rounded out the team score with an 83 and made honorable mention for a second straight season.
“I tried to stay confident throughout the day,” Hevalow said. “That’s something I’ve been trying to work on is my mood and how I keep everything straight.”
After tying for first last season, Platte County junior Brayden Renno tied for 12th with an 85. He made honorable mention all-conference for a second time, adding to his freshman season and last year’s breakout round.
Cangelosi and Hevalow carded 14 pars each in very balanced rounds. A double bogey for Hevalow made the one shot difference in their scores.
“It was a little nerve-racking at first, but I got rid of the shakes, started getting hot and played good,” Cangelosi
Dillingham (one birdie, six pars) and Renno (two birdies, four pars) endured more volatile rounds for Platte County, which has not won a conference title since moving up from the Blue Division. Grain Valley’s four rounds making top the team score were all 75 or better.
The focus for Platte County now turns to Monday’s Class 4 District 4 tournament at Paradise Pointe Golf Complex in Smtihville with a talented lineup including a pair of two-time state qualifiers (Renno and Hendee) and three sophomores making postseason debuts. After playing last season at conference, a scheduling conflict led that to being his final tournament.
Platte County eventually placed third at Class 4 District 4 but did not earn one of two automatic team berths to state. Instead, all five of the Pirates players, including sophomore Kaplan Curtis, made the individual cut for an unorthodox qualification to the Class 4 MSHSAA Golf Championships.
Hendee finished sixth as a sophomore to earn his first state berth and tied for seventh last year. Renno tied for seventh in 2024 and tied for ninth a year ago to help Platte County end a 24-year drought without a team at state, a stretch that dated back to a state trophy earned in 2001.
The No. 1 player a majority of the past three seasons, Hendee tied for 28th as a freshman at districts. He hopes to become the first all-state player in a quarter century — and just third overall — after coming up just short last season. He sat in the top 15 after the first round but ended up tied for 26th after tying for 65th as a sophomore.
Renno went from 89th as a freshman to a tie for 41st last season along with Curtis, who played part of the season in the varsity lineup as part of the deepest roster in program history.
Platte County finished fifth as a team last season despite not earning an automatic berth. This year’s Class 4 MSHSAA Golf Championships are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, May 18 and 19 at Columbia Country Club in Columbia.
