By Stephen Smoot
The center of West Virginia high school golf’s universe descended on Wheeling last week. Oglebay State Park and Resort annually hosts the legions of golfers who come to compete.
And this year for the first time ever, Pendleton County had a team travel to take on the rest of the best of Class A.
Eight squads went to Wheeling with more individual qualifiers participating. Said Mike Eye, head coach, “They enjoyed themselves even though it was tough and we didn’t get the results we hoped for.”
He explained that his young team, getting their first taste of states, “were all nervous even though they tried to act like they weren’t.”
Golf at this level involves a test of both skill and physical endurance. Attention gets paid much more to the swings and shots than the rest of a golfer’s day. At Oglebay, competitors must walk “a little over seven miles” through the 18 holes of the course.
The day before competition, the entire team played a practice round. On day one, the Pendleton golfers started last, which gave them more chances to rest. That said, they could not complete the course before the close of competition on day one and had to finish the next day.
Day one saw the efforts of the eight teams shake out with Charleston Catholic in first place, followed by Wahama, Sherman, Ritchie County, and then the Wildcats. Following Pendleton County on day one was St. Mary’s, Tygarts Valley, and Greater Beckley Christian.
One of the differences, Eye explained, lay in how players opened up competition. In a typical regular season tournament, players simply start with another group at a certain hole and work their way through the course.
At state’s the format changes somewhat. As Eye shared, when the golfers prepared to tee off at the first hole, “they announced their school and name. They had to tee off with everyone standing and watching,” which fueled the nervousness.
Eye stated that his normal number one, Dylan Eye, struggled somewhat on day one. He could only finish 13 holes the first day, then “had to play five holes, then turn around and 30 minutes later play 18.” He finished day one in 19th place of 40 competitors from Class A, but pushed to 18th at the conclusion of the second day of play.
“Landon Davis,” Eye stated, “played a decent round both days.” He placed 12th on day one (“the best score of anyone on the first day”) and 24th on the second day.
One of the challenges that all Wildcat golfers faced lay in the greens. Eye described them as “fast” and shared that “everybody was struggling in reading the greens.”
“He held it together,” Eye said of Davis.
Barrett Cook faced a “struggle getting in a rhythm on the first day.” Eye stated that it took time for Cook to adjust, but once he did, he put together a strong day two performance. He stated that Cook and the others who competed “learned a lot from day to day.”
Logan Fisher played “pretty consistently both days” but had a better day one. The coach described how Fisher opened by “hitting the ball as well as I have ever seen.” His first attempt on day one resulted in a “beautiful tee shot right down the middle.” It put him in a position to “make par on the very first hole.”
“You could see the relief after that first shot,” said Eye.
Pendleton County wrapped up play in eighth place, but Eye put as much priority on the experience as he did performance. And that did not just include the team’s immersion in the environment of state competition.
He explained that the team stayed in the same hotel as the Tygarts Valley squad and individual players from Tucker County. “All of these kids hung out together,” said Eye. He added that he enjoyed watching the Potomac Highlands combined contingent “playing bucket golf in the parking lot” the night before the first day of play.
“All of these boys (from different teams in the area) root for each other all of the time,” said the coach, who went on to describe how a few from the area who had already finished walked along side Dylan Eye and his group. They encouraged and supported the Wildcat golfer.
“They are making friendships that will last a lifetime,” stated Eye.
No one expects the young, talented, and hungry team from Pendleton County to make state competition a “one off.” As they get back to work honing their skills and preparing those coming up from middle school, Eye said that in 2026 “we’ll be prepared.”
As for 2025, “they are winners in my book.”
