Wheeling – A year ago following a runner-up finish at the state golf tournament, then sophomores Tyler Beard and Cooper Ward told Shady Spring head golf coach Greg Daniel that they were going to win two state titles before they graduate.
The Tigers are halfway to that lofty goal.
Shady Spring answered the bell over the final nine holes Wednesday afternoon at the Speidel Golf Club on the Jones Course at Oglebay Park in Wheeling to capture the Class AA state golf championship for the second time in school history.
The Tigers’ first team title came in 2020 when current WVU standout Todd Duncan was a senior.
The Tigers finished with a team score of 59-over par across the two-day tournament while Wheeling Central shot a 76. Chapmanville and Ripley finished in a tie for third with scores of 107.
“We had a real battle over the first nine holes. I think what it was, these kids didn’t think I had enough gray hair and they needed to add to it,” Daniel said, laughing. “They righted the ship on the back nine and played really solid. It was a different team on the final nine holes. I think they realized they had to do it.”
The Tigers began the final day of the tournament with a 13-shot lead over Wheeling Central.
Even though the round was played under sunny skies, breezy conditions made shot selection difficult, drying out the already fast greens on the Jones layout and making putting treacherous.
“For high school golf, the only thing I can relate it to is like the U.S. Open where the rough is high and this course plays that hard. You can’t miss a shot anywhere,” Daniel said. “I was thinking the whole time, par and bogey, just don’t make worse than that.
The opening portion of the round Wednesday couldn’t have gone much worse for the Tigers and there were plenty of holes worse than par or bogey.
Starting their rounds on the back nine, the Tigers watched their scores rise and their lead shrink to seven shots with nine holes to play.
After shooting 4-over par for 18 holes in round one, Ward shot 10-over on his first nine holes. Jack Williams matched Ward’s start and Grant Winkler limped in with 46, one back of his teammates.
“I just started off really rough and it was hard to get back in the groove after that,” Ward said. “No putts were dropping, but just like Tyler (Beard) said, thanks to God, coaches and parents. All the hard work paid off in the end.”
The one bright spot for the Tigers was Beard who finished his first nine holes just 3-over par.
“I sat down and wrote up about every scenario that I could think of if we shoot this or we shoot that,” Daniel said. “What kept giving me comfort today was if somebody had a bad round, another one would pick them up.”
Beard applied more pressure to the Maroon Knights when he birdied two of his first four holes on the final nine.
In the meantime, Williams found his groove and returned to his form going just two-over par on the inward nine. Winkler rallied for a 4-over par 40 and Ward closed his round with a 42.
When the final putt dropped, the Tigers had pushed the lead back out to 17 shots for their second state championship title.
The perseverance shown by his team was an impressive feat according to the coach.
“As someone that has played golf their whole life, that is the hardest thing to do. When you get it going sideways is to stop it,” Daniel said. “The truly great golfers can do that. For a while, it looked like we weren’t going to get it done. Once we moved to the final nine holes, we played really solid.”
The season ended for Shady Spring exactly where the players thought it would. With Beard, Ward and Winkler back next year, a repeat is on the table.
“When this season started, at the first practice we talked about winning the state championship. Then I told them I didn’t want to hear anymore about that,” Daniel said. “It didn’t do any good to say that because that is all I kept hearing about. They set their expectations there and they already have them set for next year. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
All four team members for Shady Spring were named to the all-state team which also included Luke Tiu (Wheeling Central), Scott Underwood (Lewis County), Justus Mann (Chapmanville) and Bryson Moorehead (Frankfort).
Tiu earned Class AA medalist honors, shooting 12-over while Beard (15-over) and Ward (20-over) finished right behind him.
