Battle Mountain golfer drills 30-foot birdie putt on final hole at 3A state golf tournament at Eagle Ranch

William Morrison put together a picture perfect ending to his prep golf career on Tuesday at Eagle Ranch Golf Club. On the second day of the 3A state golf tournament, the Battle Mountain senior drilled a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to finish even par for the round.

“Not happy with my first day but I just wanted to come out the second day and enjoy my last round of high school golf. To shoot 72 on the final day means a lot,” he said after his 12th-place finish. “I’m happy I ended it on a birdie.”

“Spectacular way to finish,” added his coach and father, Matt Morrison. “It’s just awesome to see all the hard work he’s put into it. He had a good round and finished up well today.”

The pair walked the 6,600-yard course together — an extra heart-warming component to the storybook ending.

“It’s just trying to find that balance between being coach, being dad and letting them do their own thing,” Matt Morrison said.

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“He really helps me,” his son added. “He’s more than just a coach — he’s my dad — so to be able to have him around, kind of just keep my mind off the shot in between holes is great.”

William Morrison said one lasting lesson from Dad has been to “never give up.”

“That’s his big thing. Just keep swinging,” William Morrison said. “Eventually, putts are going to drop. Eventually things are going to go your way. It worked.”

After five bogeys led to a 78 first-round score, he had to implement the wisdom on day 2. Morrison birdied holes 3 and 6 and then went on an 11-hole par streak before his magical putt on the final hole.

“In golf and anything — as long as you have a club in your hand, as long as you put in the work, as long as you’re willing to show up, you have a chance,” Matt Morrison said. “That’s what I’ve always told him.”

While Morrison was the lone Husky at state, Eagle Valley qualified four and wound up finishing eighth in the 16-team field. Hudson Rozga led the way with a two-day total of 152 to finish 16th overall. Lawson Rumley (160), Cooper Kirkman (163) and Chris Marsh (175) rounded out the scoring in 39th, 53rd and 70th place, respectively.

“It was fun,” Kirkman said. “Having it at home — I mean I’ve played here so many times — it was like any other day pretty much.”

Kirkman’s familiarity with the course had the sophomore wanting a little more in his first state appearance.

“I wanted a round in the 70s and I didn’t get one, but I mean, I have two more years,” he said. “It’s a lot of time to get better.”

Rozga and Kirkman both felt every club was working except the putter.

“I had a lot of birdie opportunities and I just kept missing them. Everything else was my best of the year — I was hitting wedges, irons, drivers the best, I just couldn’t hit putts,” Rozga said. “But, that’s what happens when we come and play this course during states — they make it a little harder than normal.”

Coming off a 45th-place finish in his first state tournament appearance last fall, Rozga didn’t have a place goal in mind this year.

“I was like, ‘everyone from the team made it, let’s make it a fun week for us,'” he said. “My goal was just to play as well as I could. I knew the course, so I knew I could just be aggressive.”

Monday’s fade had transformed to a Tuesday draw, and Rozga leaned into it with his hybrid and driver shots. It led to birdies on five and six and another on the 406-yard par-4 ninth. At the turn, Rozga said he felt like he was “on fire.”

“I was like, it’s not cold anymore, I’m awake,” he joked.

While he knows fine-tuning his baseball swing alongside his golf stroke will always be a technically demanding double, Rozga said he’d like to get to the range a bit more before next year.

“It kind of opened my eyes like, if I work hard, I can be a top player next year,” he said. “I’ve been playing a bunch of baseball, but I think I can do well at golf if I work really hard at it.”

Morrison might serve as a good inspiration. Matt Morrison said his son’s dedication to the game is what makes him special. The senior has gradually chiseled himself into one of the state’s best over his entire career. Low 90s as a freshman became mid to low 80s as a sophomore and junior. Last year, he didn’t make it to state, shooting an 86 to place 22nd at the region tournament. But this fall, he started winning tournaments.

“To see that progression is awesome,” Matt Morrison said. “He puts in the work and has been dedicated to it. He gets all the credit. We just encourage him to go out there and keep going.”