The Bridgeport High School golf season opened Aug. 9 as the Tribe played in the Callaway Junior Tour High School Series at Clarksburg Country Club. Twenty teams from across the state competed.

 

Collectively, the Tribe shot a 271; the score calculated by combining the top three individual scores.

 

Leading the Indians was BHS sophomore Matt Aman with 82, followed by seniors Brayden Lesher, 87; Joshua Messe 102 and Cooper Hineman, 105.

 

Coach Fred Wilhelm said he thought his team did OK considering it was the first tournament of the season and he was missing lead golfer Mason Williams.

 

This week, the Indians made two trips to Morgantown; playing a four-team match at Pines Country Club and against University at Lakeview Resort’s Mountainview course on Wednesday.

 

Tuesday resulted in a victory for BHS; tying for first with Brooke. Morgantown took third place and Trinity finished fourth.

 

In Williams’ first match for the 2017 season, he shot a 36, tying for low medalist with Morgantown’s Braydon Wassick. Right behind him was Aman with 37. Messe and Lesher shot 44 and 46 respectively.

 

Wednesday’s match was a close one, but the Indians came up short, losing by two strokes to University. Williams led with a 38. Aman shot a 46, Lesher and Hineman a 48 and Messe shot a 51.

 

Williams - who until last week was active on a summer circuit which took him around the U.S. - said he is glad to be back in Bridgeport and settled into the high school season. Year-round play is quite beneficial to the standout, who has already signed to continue his career at Georgia Southern.

 

He believes BHS will have a good year.

 

“I think this will be our best year. We have most of the same guys back and as we play more courses and get more experience, the better we’ll be,” he said. “I’m excited for the season.”

Today is the Indians’ first home match, against Preston, Fairmont Senior and Morgantown at Bridgeport Country Club. Tee off is 4 p.m. Playing on their home course at Bridgeport Country Club is a definite advantage, Williams said.

 

In one of the last tournaments of his summer tour, Williams teamed with Huntington’s Ian Patrick Archer to capture the win in the West Virginia Four-Ball Championship in southern West Virginia.

 

“It was the first time we had played together,” Williams said. “We shot 11 under for two days, playing at Edgewood and Berry Hills.”

The team finished day one at Charleston’s Berry Hills with a 63 and the following day, shot a 66 at Edgewood in Sissonville.

 

The 38^th West Virginia Four-Ball Championship was played July 29-30. Read more about the tournament and the win HERE.

 

Immediately before that tournament, Williams captured the 2017 West Virginia Junior Amateur Championship at Canaan Valley Resort. He shot a two-day 144 to tie for the win and was declared tournament winner after a four-hole playoff round.

 

Read more about Williams’ win in the West Virginia Junior Amateur Championship HERE.

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Ben Queen Photography are from top Williams, Hineman and Lesher.