It has been said many times, “It’s not how you start, it is how you finish.”
Monday during the Class AA Region 3 Golf Tournament at Grandview Country Club, Shady Spring proved that old adage to once again be true.
Fighting off a sluggish start, the Tigers came storming home to repeat as regional champions.
With the team total comprised of the three best scores out of the four players competing on each team, the Shady Spring foursome recorded four of the top five scores on the day to lap the field by 35 shots.
“We were pretty gritty today. We started out sluggish on a couple of holes, but down the stretch we were really strong,” Shady Spring head coach Greg Daniel said. “The team score we had today was really good in these conditions.”
Cooper Ward shot even-par 72 for the Tigers, while Jack Williams carded a 77 and Tyler Beard came home with a 78 for the team total of 227. Nate Richmond also played well shooting 80 on his day.
Ward’s round was good enough for the overall low medalist honor.
“When you don’t count a score of 80 for the team total in regional play, that is really good,” Daniel said. “It is a gritty bunch and a tough bunch. We haven’t played well the last couple of times out. It was about the worst that we played all year. Then today we played about as good as we have played all year.”
Ward had a roller-coaster day making two double bogeys and two bogeys to offset his six birdies.
“I just had a bunch of recovery shots today. On No. 10 (par-5), I hit my driver about 140 yards and still made a par,” Ward said. “I was two-under par going into No. 9 (par-3) and made double-bogey. Today was one of my best rounds for sure with all that was going on out there.”
Williams started his round on No. 4 and was also at a crossroads when he teed the ball up on No. 10.
“I was five-over (par) through six holes. I knew I had to make something happen on the back because if I kept playing like that I knew I was going to be dead last,” Williams said.
A drive down the middle of the fairway left the junior standout in go-mode on the par-5 hole and Williams hit the shot of the day.
“I hit my drive down the middle and luckily it was lift-clean and place today. I got to place my ball pretty good,” Williams explained. “I had 284 yards so I hit my 4-hybrid to about three-feet and made the putt.”
That was not the only impressive shot of the day for Williams who hit the flag stick on his approach shot to his final hole of the day.
Also a basketball standout for the Tigers, Williams has only played golf for just over a year. Monday was the first regional golf competition of his career.
“Golf is nothing like basketball. I have played in the state tournament on the (Charleston) Civic Center floor. Teeing off in front of five people is worse (for nerves) than playing in the Civic Center,” Williams said laughing.
Making his day even more impressive was just three days ago, Williams was struggling with his swing. Struggling with ever golfer’s nightmare, the shanks.
“I left the course after eight holes and just went and beat balls for four or five hours,” Williams said. “Luckily it paid off. I have been putting in the work to really get better at golf and it is finally starting to pay off.”
Beard struggled early with some distance control, but through nine holes was only two over par.
“I struggled with my wedges some. I was hitting them a little thin and I had some awkward (yardage) numbers,” Beard said. “I was able to keep my swing about the same and battle back to hit some really good shots coming in.”
Heading to the back nine, the wheels started to fall off for Beard with two double bogeys and a bogey over the next four holes. The young sophomore never folded and responded by going one-under par over his final five holes.
“That wasn’t very fun,” Beard said about the four hole stretch. “I was able to play the last five holes pretty well though. I feel like that is the most difficult stretch of the golf course, so I was happy to minimize the damage and get it in.”
Nicholas County placed second Monday and also punched its ticket to state golf tournament next week.
Cole Brown led the Grizzlies with an 82, followed by Maddox Smallwood with 87 and Caleb Jarvis with 93 for a team total of 262. It will be the first trip north for head coach Tom McGirl’s squad in his six year tenure.
“It was nip and tuck with Herbert Hoover today,” McGirl said. “Our kids have been really good at times and not so good at other times. They have had an up and down season, but team-wise our scores remain pretty much the same. Guys are just bouncing around back and forth. For us, it is an honor to come out of this region because there has been so many champions and a lot of history. Shady played great and Hoover really battled to the end.”
Westside senior phenom Kerri-Anne Cook and Bluefield senior Camden Deeb qualified for the state tournament as individuals Monday.
For Cook, it will be the third trip to the state tournament of her career where she placed third as a freshman and sixth last year.
“It feels really good, especially with it being my senior year,” Cook said about qualifying for states again. “It is really nice to get one more go at it.”
Cook shot 73 on the day, one shot away from her second consecutive regional low medalist honor.
“It was a little tough today. I would make a couple of bogeys and then get it back with a couple of birdies. It was kind of back and forth over all,” Cook explained.
Sitting at three-over par through 16 holes, Cook nearly brought her round back to even par over the final two holes.
“I was standing on 17-tee and I was thinking I wanted to get a couple (of strokes) back (going in),” Cook said. “My tee shot was a little more right than I wanted, but I wound up getting a good lie. I shot the flag (with my distance finder) and it was a really good number, so I felt like I should just go for it.”
Her second shot on the par-5 hole over water came to rest about 10 feet from the flag giving her a good chance to make eagle. The putt came to rest agonizingly close, but did not fall. The effort was still good enough for a tap-in birdie. Cook then birdied hole 18 to get back to one-over par for the day.
Deeb’s road was a little tougher as he had to earn his spot in a playoff with Herbert Hoover standout Noah Sergent.
Also new to the game having played just two years, Deeb handled his first big pressure-packed moment on the links like a veteran.
“I was thinking, oh crap, I have to win this. The loser is going to go home,” Deeb said, laughing. “I am really happy though. I have put in a lot of work, so it feels great.”
The playoff was contested on hole 18 in front of a large gallery of people and players. Both players hit the fairway off the tee for a solid start. Deeb was first to go and hit his approach shot just off the green, but it left himself with a slight uphill chip-shot.
Unfortunately for Sergent, his approach went long and left leading to a bogey. Deeb chipped his ball within a couple feet of the pin where he rolled it in his par for the win.
“I just wanted to keep it low and get it as close as I could,” Deeb said about his chip-shot. “That is what I did. It was nerve-racking, but it feels great.”
The state golf tournament is a 36-hole event and will be played Oct. 3-4 on the Speidel Course at Oglebay Park in Wheeling.
Class AA Region 3 Golf
Shady Spring 227, Nicholas County 262, Herbert Hoover 270, Bluefield 278, Liberty 281, Wyoming East 287, Independence 296, PikeView 308
Individual qualifiers
Kerri-Anne Cook, Westside, 73
Camden Deeb, Bluefield, 82 (in a playoff)
SS: Ward 72, Williams 77, Beard 78, Richmond 80
NC: Coe Brown 82, Smallwood 87, Jarvis 93, Braden Brown 95
HH: Sargent 82, Colin Lindsey 94, Gabe dell 94, Ben Baker 105
B: Deeb 82, Bryson Redmond 94, Anthony Buzzo 102, Trenton Swauger 103
L: Joshua Lafferty 90, Landon Hall 91, Maggie Asbury 100, Gabriel Acord 122
WE: Cole Lambert 91, Zach Hunt 94, Trey Addison 102, Landon Hodges 106
I: Hunter Moore 94, Ashton Goodson 101, Tyler Barr 101, Talon Buzminsky 110
PV: Landon Palmer 102, Grayson Weatherly 103, Eli Chambers 103, Parker Shrewsbury 107