Over the past few years, the hardest part for Class AA Region 3 golf teams in their quest for a state championship has been making out of regional play.
Shady Spring, Wyoming East, Westside and Herbert Hoover have all won state championships and had an individual champion in the last eight years.
Making that coveted trip to Wheeling is again going to be a dogfight when regional play tees off in two weeks.
The top two teams in each region, per class, will qualify for the state tournament, along with the top two individual golfers who have the lowest score and are not on the winning teams.
When the season began in August, Shady and Hoover were the favorites to repeat as the top two teams in the region.
While that still could happen, Nicholas County has tossed its hat in ring as a contender and the Grizzlies could easily snag one of the two top spots.
“I do have some young kids, but they are a fun bunch to coach. They have put in a lot of work over the summer and in the off-season,” Nicholas County head coach Tom McGirl said.
Ben Marsh leads the Grizzlies and qualified for the state tournament as an individual last year. He has been joined by Maddox Smallwood, Cole Brown and Braden Brown this year.
“Maddox is a sophomore and he had gotten a lot better. He has a lot of length and his short game is pretty solid,” McGirl said. “Cole has only played since last June and he has already shot a 35 and a 39 (on nine holes). He has progressed quickly. His brother, Braden, started about the same time and he has been in the low-to-mid 40’s.”
Parker Wood is the No. 5 player for Nicholas County and he is pushing to crack the top-four also, according to McGirl.
“I kind of expected this group to play like this. You take Ben for granted sometimes because you expect him to go shoot even or one-under. The others have surprised me in regards to how far they have come in a short period,” McGirl said. “If we put in the work, we can be a solid program for a while.”
Clearly one really good team is going to be left out of the state tournament from Region 3 this year, which makes the battle for two individual spots even tougher this year.
In the regional tournament last year, Marsh survived a horrible start to punch his ticket to Wheeling. Monday at the Coalfield Conference tournament, Marsh proved he still has that bounce-back ability in his bag of tricks.
After opening with a triple-bogey on the first hole and two bogeys in the next three holes, Marsh steadied the ship to play the next 14 holes at even par.
“Right out of the gate there was an issue with my lower back, but once I loosened up, I started to get accustomed to the course and I played a lot better,” Marsh said. “With the start I had, I am tickled to death with my play.”
Westside junior Kerri-Anne Cook is also a strong contender for an individual spot this year, as is a player that many likely did not know prior to the season, Cody Blake from Independence.
Blake has been turning some heads early in the season with some strong play in the regular season matches. Those matches however have only been nine holes. Monday on the Cobb Course, the Patriot senior showed he has the game to contend over 18 holes as well.
Paired with Cook, Marsh and eventual low medalist Tanner Vest from Shady Spring, who shot 69 on the day, Blake tied Marsh with a 76 for second place overall in Class AA.
“I hit a lot of really close approach shots, but I just couldn’t make the putts,” Blake said. “(A 76) wasn’t really what I wanted to shoot, but it was fun today. I liked playing with all of the top players. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be.”
Making Blake’s rise to the top of the heap even more amazing is the fact that he has only played golf for a couple of years.
“I started during Covid. My dad always played and I was really bored. I never really got into golf because I was a baseball player. I went with him one time and I chipped in out of a bunker and I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to go back. I have just been playing as much as I can ever since and I practiced a lot over the summer.”
The regional tournament is set to be played Monday, Sept. 26 at Big Bend Golf Course in Charleston.