The Garden City boys golf team poses after winning the Class 1A state title at Crystal Falls Golf Club in Leander on April 28.
courtesy of Clayton Fryar
Garden City golfers look on their phones after finishing their round on April 20 at Crystal Falls Golf Club in Leander to monitor scores from the Class 1A State Tournament.
courtesy of Clayton Fryar
The Garden City boys golf team poses after winning the Class 1A state championship at Crystal Falls Golf Club in Leander on April 28.
courtesy of Clayton Fryar
The anticipation for the Garden City boys golf team was just as tough as the course at Crystal Falls Golf Club in Leader for the Class 1A State Tournament.
The Bearkats got done with their final round on Tuesday, having shot a 356 for the final round to give them a two-day 717 total.
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Garden City shot a 361 in the first round, was tied for fourth and eight strokes back of the leaders.
The Bearkats felt they had done their best on Tuesday but didn’t know how that would stack up against the rest of the field.
They had to wait about 30-45 minutes before they finally found out that their final round score was the best of the day and it was enough to jump into first place and secure the state championship.
It’s the program’s first state title since the back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.
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“It means a lot,” said senior Brik Fryar, who led the Bearkats by finishing in 14th place with a 91-81—172 total. “My dad has always been kind of golfing and around the course a lot and I started playing my freshman year to be able to compete and have fun with my buddies. It means a lot to finally go to state for the first time and to pull off a comeback win on the day. It’s unexpected, but it’s a pretty cool experience.”
Brik’s father and coach Clayton Fryar, who won his first state title as a head coach, said he knew the Bearkats couldn’t win the tournament on day one, but they could certainly shoot themselves out of it.
“The kids just battled on day one,” Clayton Fryar said. “We were within eight shots around the lead but there were several schools around the same number. We got off to a rough start (Tuesday) and we asked the kids to keep battling. We posted our score and they didn’t feel like they had done enough.”
The coach added that while the team was waiting for the rest of the field to come in, they buried their heads in their phones to monitor the Texas golf app for the scores.
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As the scores started to come in, the Bearkats saw themselves climb up the standings all the way to first place and eventually win it by seven strokes over Wildorado (361-363—724) and Knippa (361-363—724).
“I was fortunate to have a good day and shoot an 81,” Brik Fryar said. “The rest of my team kept it steady and kept it low. We gave ourselves a chance and we watched all those other schools started bogeying holes. We crawled back into it, and at the end of the day, we turned in a lower score than all the teams that came in after us.”
In addition to Fryar, senior Karson Lowery shot 89-89—178; senior Waylyn Davis shot an 87-92—179 total; freshman Cohen Batla shot a 94-94—188; and senior Rylan Cypert shot a 106-98—204 total.
Clayton Fryar said the Bearkats were the only team in the tournament to finish below an average score of 90 per golfer.
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“We didn’t have anybody go super low but we definitely showed the depth of our team. We did it collectively as a team,” Clayton Fryar said.
“You feel like when you get to Garden City, I’m not going to say it’s expected but they’re very hopeful. They love their golf and they provided with an excellent setup for our kids to get to work on it with our little driving range on campus. There’s no pressure on us to win, but you’re always gifted with kids who like the sport and are engaged in the sport, and that’s a win already. I’m just happy for the kids because they didn’t get out of regionals last year and that left a bitter taste in their mouths.
“They knew they had a chance and getting to the medal stand and they didn’t want to be satisfied. Winning the state title is pretty cool.”
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Brik Fryar said it’s really special to him to close out his high school career winning a state title with his dad as the head coach.
“The one kind of sad thing about it is this was my last athletic competition ever. But to have my personal best round on the last one and then to end up winning it, it’s kind of crazy,” he said. “I really don’t have words to describe it.”
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