BAKER CITY — Sawyer Quinton is set to don his trademark Prairie City orange golf pants at the state golf tournament for a second straight year.

The Prairie City sophomore won his second 3A/2A/1A Special District 4 golf championship in as many years on May 7 at the Quail Ridge Golf Course in Baker City. Quinton shot a combined score of 156 over the course of the two-day tournament to edge Riverside’s Wyatt Browne by five strokes for the district crown.

As a team, the Panthers had a rough go of things on May 6, the tournament’s opening day, with high winds, rain and bitter cold leaving the squad 20 strokes removed from a berth in the state tournament as the third-place finisher. With the team down on themselves following the first day of the competition, head coach Bob Quinton reminded his squad that there was still a lot of golf left to be played.

“I told them it isn’t going to be won on the first day,” he said.

The Panthers took those words to heart and embarked on a furious rally, making up 13 of those 20 strokes despite high winds on the second day of the competition. The Panthers would ultimately finish fourth, just seven strokes behind third-place Vale.

Not immune from the realities of the weather and conditions, Sawyer Quinton had ground to make up himself in the individual battle for a district title, trailing Browne by a single stroke before play began on Day 2. Quinton wouldn’t crumble under the pressure, however, besting Browne by six strokes on the second day of the competition to secure the title.

“It was tough,” coach Quinton said of the severe weather during the tournament. Quinton emphasized that everybody had to play in the same conditions his team faced in Baker, however.

Those conditions were challenging, to say the least, with 30 mile-per-hour winds making both club selection and shot planning difficult. Through it all, Sawyer Quinton and the rest of the Prairie City golf team never quit.

“I am extremely proud of the team that represented Prairie City,” coach Quinton said.

Four of the five Prairie City golfers — Trey Brown, Bridger Walker, Cayden Howard and Tucker Wright — are seniors whose high school golf careers ended in Baker City. For Sawyer Quinton, the journey continues.

Quinton was scheduled to head to Emerald Valley Golf and Resort in Creswell on Monday, May 13, and Tuesday, May 14, to compete in the 3A/2A/1A Boys State Golf Championships as the lone golfer carrying Grant County’s banner at the state tournament.

Quinton won the 2023 district golf tournament by 34 strokes and finished 25th at last year’s state tournament.

A previous version of this article had the wrong days for the state golf tournament. The error has been corrected.