EDMOND – Though rain pulled golfers off the course for close to an hour during the final round of the Class 5A Boys State Golf Championships, the snaking layout at Rose Creek Golf Club lay waiting to strike when play resumed.
And it did.
Rose Creek's hilly terrain and bunker-lined fairways yielded only 25 scores below 80 out of a field of 72 golfers. Only four players shot even-par 72 on the links-style course.
It was a sharp comparison to a day earlier, a 36-hole marathon, in which there were 57 rounds in the 70s and five rounds in the 60s.
“The course won today,” El Reno head coach Ken Posey said. “The wet ground made this course play longer, and it's pretty long to begin with. The conditions really made it tougher.”
Only one team broke 320 during the final 18-hole round as Ardmore won its second straight 5A crown with a 314, giving the Tigers a 54-hole total of 922. Bixby took runner-up honors with a 944 total after a final round of 322. Duncan used a 325 on the final day to hold off Deer Creek for third place, giving the Demons a 974 tally.
The Antlers, paced by second-place individual medalist Ian Davis, were fourth with a three-day total of 979. Carl Albert and Lawton MacArthur tied for fifth place with a 995 total.
El Reno, seventh after day one, shot a 332 over the final round and remained in the same position with a 996 total.
“That stunned the boys looking up there at the board and seeing Carl Albert and MacArthur beating them by a stroke after we had beaten them both at regional,” Posey said. “The double and triple bogies really hurt us.”
McAlester took eighth place with a 999 effort, followed by Ada (1,000), Chickasha (1,055), Tulsa Bishop Kelley (1,061) and Tahlequah (1,066).
“I know the boys felt like we should have had fifth place, but we just couldn't get up there,” Posey said. “We didn't post the scores we wanted, but we still had a great season. We were 12th last year at state and we jumped up five places and I'm really proud of the kids.”
Bixby's Karsten Majors won the medalist honors with an even-par 216 tally. Chickasha's Taylor Williams and Carl Albert's Tyler Gooch tied for third with a 221 effort.
El Reno junior Cameron Ross overcame a triple bogey during his final nine holes to take seventh place with a 229 total – just three shots out of fifth place. Ross carded rounds of 73-78 the first day, before closing with a 78 (39-39) for his best state finish.
“Cameron finishing in the top 10 was a great tournament for him,” Posey said. “He hit the ball well and had the second lowest score during the opening round.”
Senior R.J. Mullaney had the second lowest total for the Indians with a 254, shooting a final round of 83 (42-41). Freshman Logan Gray was close behind with a 257 effort after his final round of 83 (41-42).
Senior Jake Schwarz carded a final round of 89 (42-47) to end with a 54-hole total of 258. Junior Collin Listen shot an 88 (46-42) to end the tournament with a 266 tally.