Prairie City’s Sawyer Quinton finished in 25th place at the 2023 state golf tournament at Toketee Golf Club.

MCKENZIE BRIDGE — Freshman Prairie City golfer Sawyer Quinton was Grant County’s flag-bearer and lone participant in the OSAA 3A/2A/1A boys golf championships May 15 and 16 at Tokatee Golf Course in McKenzie Bridge.

Quinton, who won the district tournament by 34 strokes to land a berth in the state championships, finished tied for 34th place following the first day of competition, having shot an 89. He rose nine spots to finish 25th after besting his previous day’s efforts by nine strokes to shoot an 80 on day two.

“I’m reluctant to speak on his behalf, but he is my son,” Prairie City head golf coach Bob Quinton said. “I think nerves played a part the first day. The second day he came back and played a whole lot better. Unfortunately, he was just too far back.”

Sawyer did play a practice round on Tokatee Golf Course before the state championships but circumstances weren’t ideal, according to his coach. “It wasn’t the way he’d prefer to play a practice round, I’d think,” he said.

That’s no excuse for Sawyer’s play on the first day, however, Bob added. “That’s not a reason for not scoring as well,” he said. “It came down to nerves, I think, more than anything.”

Sawyer took it all in stride, though, chalking up his first appearance at state as a learning experience.

“He was pretty disappointed after the first day. After the second day he said, ‘I know what to expect next year, and if I’m lucky enough to get to state’ — he feels like he could, he could play with those guys,” Bob said.

“He knows he can. I think he kind of proved it the second day coming back,” he added.

Bob added that only one player shot under par at the tournament. That player wound up winning the state championship.

“Sawyer knows him. Sawyer has played golf against him and has beaten him a couple of times,” he said.

Golf over the summer will be left up to his son, Bob said. “I think he’s just kinda tired … He’s played a lot of tournament golf over the last couple weeks, so we’ll probably give it a break,” he said.

“It’s all up to him. if he wants to play, I mean … that’s his choice. I’m not into forcing kids to go play sports. If he wants to do something else this summer, that’s fine as well,” Bob said.

Overall Quinton said Sawyer was proud to represent Prairie City at the state tournament. “He wore his orange pants with his head held high.”

“He left with his head held high. He wanted to represent our district as well. More than anything I think he was thrilled to make it there and proud to represent his school,” Quinton said.

“Again, everybody talks about those orange pants. They know where Prairie City is and that made him happy…He might not have won but we’re just proud that he was able to represent his school and himself admirably…that’s huge for a freshman,” he added.