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Boys High School roundup
BOYS HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP Gudgel stands tall in class 6A
CLASS 6A
While many of his competitors struggled, Stillwater sophomore Grant Gudgel shot rounds of 75-70-73 for a 2-over 218 and a three-shot victory over Norman North senior Leyton Kyle (71-76-74) in the Class 6A state championship at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course on May 9-10 in Norman.
“It’s just really unbelievable,” Gudgel said. “I played in the Oklahoma Junior Masters at Southern Hills (May 7) and didn’t play well, then wasn’t hitting it well on the range yesterday and didn’t have much confidence. But I just said, `let’s just go play some golf and have some fun.’ I scored well, short game was really good and just to come out on top is really amazing.”
Defending champion Ben Stoller of Owasso was third at 223 (75-75-73). Sam Morris of second-round leader Jenks was fourth at 224 (75-75-74) and Norman North’s Jake Hopper fifth at 225 (76-73-76).
Behind the play of Kyle and Hopper, Norman North forged a tie in regulation with Edmond North, which was led by Carson Blaser (ninth at 229 after rounds of 72-77-80) and Bo Burton (tied for 10th at 231, 78-78-75).
Blaser hit a beautiful second shot on the 18th to leave himself an uphill look for eagle from about 10 feet to win it, but missed.
In the playoff, Norman North had birdies from Mack Moore, Hopper and Kyle on the 18th hole to finish at 2-under, one shot better than Edmond North. Norman North coach Ryan Rainer was emotional as he addressed what the victory meant to the players, the school and the coaching staff.
“I really love these guys and proud of what they did,” said Rainer, whose team won eight of nine events this spring. “This team has had the talent and ability, but they really learned to stay in the fight and have the presence of mind to keep after it, shot by shot. Some people may have said we were the favorite coming in, but in my mind, until someone beats Edmond North, they are the favorite. We had to go earn it.”
Norman North and Edmond North tied at 923 through 54 holes. Jenks, which had a two-shot lead entering the final round, had early trouble and finished third at 932, one shot ahead of Stillwater in fourth at 933. Norman was fifth at 940 and Broken Arrow rounded out the top five at 958.
CLASS 5A
Gunner Hamon of Altus shot a final-round 70 to win the Class 5A state championship by four shots over Baylor Bostick of Duncan and Parker Payne of Noble at Duncan Golf & Tennis Club.
Duncan rolled to a 23-shot victory in the team championship, at 922 over Bishop Kelley at 945 with Altus third at 967.
CLASS 4A
Holland Hall’s Drew Mabrey shot a final-round 69 for a four-shot victory over Cascia Hall’s Will Sides and Elk City’s Nathan Womack in the Class 4A state championship at Boiling Springs Golf Course in Woodward.
Mabrey shot rounds of 71-73-69 to finish at 213, while Sides shot 74-71-72 and Womack 75-74-68.
Heritage Hall won the team title going away at 913, with Holland Hall a distant second at 973 and Perkins-Tryon third at 976. Heritage Hall was led by Kyle McLaughlin, who closed with a 67 to finish fourth at 221, followed by teammate Matthew Smith, fifth at 223 after rounds of 77-73-73.
CLASS 3A
Ryder Cowan started the final round with a twoshot lead on Oklahoma Christian teammate Bryant Polhill. Not always sure what Polhill was up to behind him, Cowan knew he had to concentrate on the task at hand in the Class 3A state championship at Lakeview Golf Course in Ardmore.
Polhill got off to a blazing start with birdies on the first two holes to pull within a shot. But Cowan, the University of Oklahoma commit as a junior, stayed steady himself, finishing with a final-round 68 to finish five clear of his talented teammate.
Cowan (70-65-68) finished at 10-under 203, while Polhill was second at 5-under 208 (69-68-71). Their combined heroics
Grant Gudgel Drew Mabrey
Gunner Hamon weren’t enough to dislodge Christian Heritage Academy as the team champion, however, as the Crusaders shot a final-round 301 for a 12-shot victory. Christian Johnson led four players in the 70s for Heritage with a final-round 72. Also Gavin Watson shot 76, Carter Nutt 76 and Nolan Rankin 77. Johnson and Watson tied for third place at 220 with Collin Bond of Community Christian. First-year golf coach but longtime football coach Rod Wolfard motivated his squad after a tough start. “We got to around hole No. 6 and we are just kind of all over the course at that time,” Wolfard said. “And I looked at Gavin Watson, our only senior, and I told him we are going to make 13 4s coming in, I don’t care how, we are just going to do it. And that seemed like a stretch at the time, but it got him refocused and while he had a birdie and a bogey in those last 13 holes, he netted 13 pars coming in.” In the individual race between Cowan and Polhill, a double bogey by Polhill on the sixth hole gave Cowan breathing room. He made a birdie on the 13th hole to pull back within two shots but that was as close as it got. Cowan was steady down the stretch. On the par-5 14th hole, he bombed a drive, then hit a high draw with a 6-iron to 5 feet and made the putt for an eagle. Ryder Cowan On the drivable 15th hole that has water left of the green, Cowan showed patience by laying up off the tee, playing his second shot right of the flag and making an easy par. On 17, he hit an amazing second shot over a 50-foot tall tree to 5 feet. He converted that birdie as well to seal the victory. (You can watch the video of this shot on the 73rd hole Twitter account) “I knew that I had to do something special because I knew Bryant was behind me and he was coming, he played good all
