Carey Shinkle got out his 3-wood on the 18th tee and prepared to break a three-way tie.
But on second thought, this was no time to get greedy. Shinkle figured it was better to play it safe.It turned out to be a good move. Shinkle parred the hole and walked off the 18th green with individual medalist honors at the 2A/1A state golf tournament Wednesday afternoon at Spanish Oaks golf course.
Shinkle's par was good enough to hold off Juab's Kyler Lunt, who bogeyed the 18th and Rowland Hall's Tommy Sharp, who double-bogeyed the final hole.
"It feels great to win. It's about time," Shinkle said.
Shinkle had another reason to be excited about his round. His 3-over 75 led Wayne County to the 2A/1A team crown.
Wayne finished with a team score of 318, 12 shots better than Juab, last year's champion.
Joey Oliver helped Wayne's cause with an 80. Nate Buhler carded an 81 and Andrew Adkinson finished with an 82. Jerry Cowan was the other Grand golfer who's score the team didn't use.
"We had three seniors that I knew we could depend on," said Grand coach Manuel Torres. "I thought we had a team that could win it last year, but we took fourth. This year I just told them to come up here and do their thing."
North Summit junior Derek Fox, who was trying to become the state medalist for the third straight year, finished with an 81 on the day and tied for seventh place.