Anytime you win a team golf state championship by one stroke, every stroke truly did matter. Every par save, every bogey save — heck, even double-bogey saves were key for Waterford as it Beaver by the narrowest of margins (651 to 652) on Thursday to win the 2A state championship.
And while all 651 of Waterford’s shots mattered the same, there was certainly something a little more special about Will Stender’s hole in one given the magnitude of the moment.
His ace on hole No. 4 on during Wednesday’s fist round played a key role in Waterford not only beating Beaver by one stroke, but ending a 20-year state title drought.
“It was going back and forth when you were checking the live scoring, and they were aware of that, but they stuck with,” said Waterford coach Jeff Instefjord.
From 1999 to 2004, Waterford’s boys golf team won six straight state championships. Just when the dynasty was getting going, the hardware stopped rolling in.
That is until Thursday afternoon.
Led by Stender’s ace, the Ravens had a two-stroke lead over Beaver after Wednesday opening round, and that slight cushion made all the difference during the second round.
“They practice hard. They stuck with it the whole year. Anything we asked them to do in practice, they did. They practiced with a purpose. They didn’t just do the drills so they could be done to go do something else. They practiced with purpose,” said Instefjord.
Waterford opened up a six-stroke lead through nine holes on Thursday, but Beaver made a big charge and actually took a narrow lead with five holes to go before Waterford’s golfers closed the round with some timely shots to clinch the title.
Depth was the key for Waterford, which didn’t have a golfer finish inside the top eight. It did, however, have five golfers finish in the top 20.
Freshman Adam Deng was the Ravens’ top golfer as he finished with a 160 score to tie for eighth place, with junior teammate Stender right behind at 163 in 11th place.
Sophomore Hank Donnelly tied for 15th with a 165, with fellow sophomore Mac Jones tied for 17th with a 167. Jones made a five stroke improvement from the first round to the second round, which was key to championship.
Waterford’s other two golfers who compete at Palisades Golf Course on Wednesday and Thursday were Eli Rogge and Cruz Wardle.
Beaver’s runner-up finish was led by a trio of juniors who all finished in the top 12 — Taven Young in sixth, Kyler Moss in 10th and Statton Cox tied for 12th.
Beaver and Waterford golfers were matched up together in the final groupings along with American Heritage, but with the way the scoring unfolded for Waterford on Thursday, the score from its final golfer wasn’t going to factor into the team score.
As a result, going into the final hole Beaver knew it needed a birdie to tie things up. It had a chance, but its birdie chip came up short.
There wasn’t nearly as much drama in the individual title race as North Summit senior Bradley Woolstenhulme ran away with 2A medalist honors, winning by four strokes after shooting a two-day 149. He recorded a 75 on Thursday a day after carding a 74 on Wednesday.
A year ago at the 2A state tourney, Woolstenhulme finished in sixth place with a 156. He put in a lot of work over the past year to put himself in a position to win the individual state championship.
Kanab sophomore Ray Capson, who was tied for the Day 1 lead with Woolstenhulme, shot a 79 on Thursday to finish runner-up with a score of 153.
There was a three-way tie for third place among North Summit’s Cameron Batt, Rowland Hall’s Henry Damico and Enterprise’s McCoy Jones.
Batt finished with the low round of the tournament as he carded a 73 in Thursday’s final round.
2A state tournament
At Palisades Golf Course
Final team scores
- Waterford, 651
- Beaver, 652
- American Heritage, 671
- Rowland Hall, 672
- South Sevier, 689
- North Summit, 693
- Grand County, 707
- Millard, 718
- Enterprise, 729
- Kanab, 730
Individual results
- 149 — Bradley Woolstenhulme, North Summit
- 153 — Ray Capson, Kanab
- 154 — Cameron Batt, North Summit
- 154 — Henry Damico, Rowland Hall
- 154 — McCoy Jones, Enterprise
- 156 — Taven Young, Beaver
- 158 — Derk Memmott, Millard
- 160 — Adam Deng, Waterford
- 160 — Carson Vonk, American Heritage
- 161 — Kyler Moss, Beaver
- 163 — Will Stender IV, Waterford
- 164 — Statton Cox, Beaver
- 164 — Will Braddy, American Heritage
- 164 — James Smith, American Heritage
- 165 — Ayden Nielson, South Sevier
- 165 — Hank Donnelly, Waterford
- 167 — Cannon Hessey, South Sevier
- 167 — Mac Jones, Waterford
- 167 — Tyler Massey, Parowan
- 169 — Kalvery Toney, Grand County
- 169 — Eli Rogge, Waterford