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The Western Alamance boys' golf team's top five players, from left to right: Jake Clayton, Brad Grajzar, Jack Dockrill, Connor Massey and Zach Wilson.
Times-News
Courtesy of Western Alamance
More than a year after an abbreviated boys’ golf season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Western Alamance is back in prime position, sitting with all its goals still ahead of it after missing out on what it believed was a strong chance for success in 2020.
In 2020, all sports were shut down on March 13. First contests for boys’ golf across the state could begin as early as March 1, meaning the season lasted less than two full weeks.
“We're kind of hoping last year to make a run, make it to the states again, just like we did my freshman year,” said Jake Clayton, who plays in the team’s No. 1 position. “This year, coming back we have about the same team, plus two new guys. So they fill the roles of the guys that left and so we're hoping this year to kind of improve on how we did two years ago in the states.”
That’s become a source of motivation for these Warriors, coach Mike Pennington believes.
“I really do,” he said. “I think that motivation of them not getting to play was a disappointment to them, because they felt that they were pretty good last year, too. We only lost one kid coming from last year to this year.”
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Brad Grajzar said: “We really missed out on a really good year last year. We had a really strong team. It would have been nice to play with that team, but it really did motivate, I think, everybody because they knew they missed out on a really good opportunity. And this is probably one of our last years, so we have a really good chance of maybe winning states or just at least getting there.”
With most of the roster returning for this campaign, the Warriors won both the Mid-State 3-A Conference regular-season and tournament team titles.
“It kind of put things into perspective last year, not even having a high school golf season,” Jack Dockrill said. “So this year kind of came into it with a different attitude, a lot less like hard on myself and everything and just, we're happy to be out here and spend time with everyone.”
Clayton won the regular-season league individual title.
Western Alamance's Jake Clayton tees off during a match.
Times-News
Courtesy of Western Alamance
“I think they put the time in,” Pennington said of the reason for the team’s success: “I think they practice. They go hit balls. They go to the range. They're here every day. They come out every day and work hard. … Their families are deep rooted in golf. So that's what they do with their spare time is play golf. I think that’s why they’re where they’re at right now.”
The Warriors will compete in the Class 3-A Midwest Regionals today at the Country Club of Salisbury, looking to secure a spot in the state championship tournament.
It has been consistency that has gotten them to this point, both Pennington and players said. They hope there’s more of that today come tee time.
“Kids get up and down, up and down,” said Pennington, the Mid-State 3-A Conference Coach of the Year. “I mean, we've had some rounds where the top four players have had a bad round, and the fifth player stepped up to the plate in and helped out. So the consistency part of the team has been the nucleus.”
In a sport where relaxation on the course usually leads to success, they say its the closeness of the team that makes that part easier.
“I think the team bonding and team being together helps them to relax a whole lot,” Pennington said. “Monday after the match, the ones that could go to dinner together went to dinner together. So that kind of helps those guys relax. Between those five, there's a lot of team bonding, they spend a lot of time here, they spend some time together outside of outside of golf, so that helps too.”
They head to Salisbury today looking to make good on an opportunity lost a year ago, hoping this year proves to be what they expected last year might be.
David Kehrli is a sports reporter at the Burlington Times-News and USA Today Network. You can reach him at david.kehrli@thetimesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidKehrliTN. Subscribe to the Burlington Times-News here.
