LAUREN SLATTON BECOMES A STATE CHAMPION

WARREN COUNTY PIONEER LAUREN SLATTON, 2023 TSSAA STATE CHAMPION.

By Brad Durham

Anyone following Lauren Slatton’s recent golf activity, knows that she has experienced a series of accomplishments during the past couple of months. She has played in different tournaments, inside and outside of the TSSAA. In addition to playing for Warren County High School, Lauren has been very active in the Junior Pro Golf circuit. She keeps climbing to the top, and on Tuesday, she climbed to the top of the TSSAA Class AA State Championship Tournament in Sevierville. Lauren Slatton became the second state champion golfer for Warren County High School.

Lauren Slatton won the state championship by seven strokes and tied the record for the eighth-best championship total in TSSAA history. For the record, Lauren Slatton shot 137, 3 under par. She shot 68 during Monday’s first round, and 69 in the final round on Tuesday. Slatton was the only golfer out of the state’s top 45 female high school golfers to shoot under par on either day. This happened a week after she won the region by 10 strokes.

Warren County High School girls’ golf teams won the state championship in 1990 and 1992. Scott Haile won the boys individual state championship in 1981, and his banner hangs in the WCHS gym. Lauren Slatton told a friend one day in the gym a couple of years ago, “I am going to get a banner up there too.” She mentioned that Haile has provided inspiration and motivation for her golf game.

Scott Haile, a friend of Lauren Slatton’s mother and father, Jay and Elbia Slatton, conveyed by text, “I am so excited for Lauren and her family. They made the commitment many years ago to be best they can be, and today was testament of that journey. I know how bad she wanted to win this title, and had been close last year. This is one of many big wins in Lauren’s path to be her best. The sky is the limit for this golfer. She has all the attributes of a true Champion!!!”

**WCHS GOLF COACH, J.W. HOLT AND JUNION LAUREN SLATTON**

PROGRESSION WITH POSITIVE THINKING

There is no questioning Lauren Slatton’s progression as a golfer. This was the fourth year in-a-row that she has competed in the TSSAA tournament. Four years ago, she was in the top 11 or 12. Three years ago, Lauren was in the top six. Last year, as Scott Haile alluded to, Lauren was second in the championship tournament. This year she finished in first place. It is the type of progress that gets a banner raised in a high school gym.

Her father, Jay Slatton commented on how her progression has been the result of excellent coaching and many hours of competition. As Lauren was playing during the second round, Jay said, “I told her to remember what your coaches have told you. Relax. You know how to play.”

Lauren Slatton said, “I am a very positive person. I do not let anything get me down or distract me during a tournament. If a negative thought about a shot comes into my head, I immediately think about something else outside of golf. I do not focus on what anyone I play with is doing. All of my coaches have told me to do that – do not pay attention to how your competitors are playing.”

Obviously, Lauren Slatton has had several coaches over the years, and she has applied what she has been taught. Knowledge is useless if it cannot be executed. Lauren was recently a MVP for the East in the Junior Cup tournament. She has won many awards and benefited from hours of private coaching and practicing as well. She did not have a golf shot in the TSSAA Championship tournament this week that she hadn’t experienced previously. She is a very confident golfer – for good reason.

Another part of Lauren Slatton’s golfing development has been the love of the game her grandmother, Flo Slatton has passed onto her. Flo Slatton has won the Ladies Championship at the McMinnville Country Club at least twice, and she was considered one of the best, if not the best female golfer in Warren County for decades.

**FLO SLATTON AND A YOUNGER LAUREN SLATTON (FROM FLO SLATTON’S FACEBOOK PAGE)**

LAUREN SLATTON’S FUTURE

When asked about her future plans, Lauren said, “I am definitely going to play golf in college. Academics is number one, and I am presently taking three AP courses and two Dual Enrollment courses. I will be working hard preparing for my ACT and SAT tests. We are looking at a small college in Florida this week, and I am confident that I will make a commitment to a college by the beginning of the next school year.”

Lauren Slatton is a junior, and played four years of high school golf which included a gap year (a homeschool year). She has made sacrifices and decisions to excel at both golf and her academics. She plans on a major in engineering or math. And who knows, if she keeps climbing to the top in college competition, maybe there will be more golf in her future after college.

It has been 42 years since Warren County High School has had an individual golf champion. It was worth the wait to have another one. There is not a more deserving and better example of a dedicated athlete and student than Lauren Slatton. .

OTHER TSSAA CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Lauren Slatton played her final round with two competitors. McKenzie Hauk of Dobyns Bennett, who was tied for second with a final score of 144 (+4) and Brooke Bennett of Page who was fourth with a final score of 146 (+6). Sophie Christopher of Houston, pictured below, was 4 over and tied for second.