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Washougal golfer Connor O'Neill: From an upstart to the player to beat Published: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 3:45 PM Updated: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 6:54 PM The first thing you notice upon calling up Washougal High School's website is a smiling red-haired boy.
Win a state golf championship, and strange side benefits appear.
Such is the case for Washougal senior Connor O'Neill, who has become the face of the school's website.
"Everywhere I go, it's 'Connor, you're on the website!'" O'Neill said. "It's an all right picture. Everyone thinks it's hilarious."
O'Neill has had some practice smiling in recent months after winning the Class 2A state boys golf title in May. To say it was an upset on a par with Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson might be overstating it, but there's no disputing it was an upset.
For starters,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], O'Neill had never broken par during an 18-hole round in high school or juniors competition before firing a 4-under-par 68 at 2010 state. If O'Neill was among the pre-tournament favorites, then just about everyone in the field was a favorite.
A season later, O'Neill is a player to beat, a target in every tournament he plays this fall for the Panthers. When he's out in Washougal, O'Neill says locals routinely stop and congratulate him, months after the fact.
"He's a lot more confident," Washougal coach Brian Anderson said.
O'Neill's golf story is one of those underscoring that persistence can pay off.
O'Neill has been playing golf since age 7, as his family belongs to Orchard Hills Golf and Country Club in Washougal. He began to play competitively at age 12 in Washington junior golf tournaments, but never won a tournament of note. O'Neill hasn't gone unnoticed, though, as last year he won the Teats Award in Washington junior golf's District 3 as the area's most inspirational player.
Still, as a 2-handicap, O'Neill craved a little more. Like an occasional victory.
O'Neill, Washougal's No. 1 player the past four years,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], was considered among the best Class 2A players in southwest Washington last season. As a sophomore,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], O'Neill tied for eighth at state. But O'Neill hardly announced that he was on the verge of a state championship after finishing 11th in the district tournament last fall.
There was one factor in O'Neill's corner, though: the state tournament's venue, Apple Tree Golf Course in Yakima.
For some unexplainable reason, there is magic at that course for O'Neill. He achieved the two greatest milestones of his competitive life at Apple Tree; as a sophomore, O'Neill shot even par for the first time in a tournament, and last year, broke par for the first time ever.
"Whenever someone mentions Apple Tree, all I think is it's a really fun course," O'Neill said.
On the drive to Yakima, Anderson mentioned to O'Neill that he could win it, because they had witnessed flashes of a pretty good game throughout his career. But what usually sidetracks O'Neill is one disastrous hole. It happened recently at the Prairie Invitational, when tied for the lead after 15 holes at the Cedars on Salmon Creek, O'Neill took a nine at the par-4 16th on the way to a 77.
"Every time I think about a blow-up," O'Neill said, "I blow up."
For some reason, O'Neill never had that thought during the final round at state. O'Neill's only thought coming down the stretch was to shoot a 67, because that was the number he estimated it would take to win the tournament. O'Neill put himself in position to do just that at 18, when he hit the par-5 green in two.
But three putts later O'Neill had a par and a 68.
"I thought for sure I was going to lose by one," he said.
Instead, O'Neill won the tournament by two strokes.
O'Neill had lofty goals for this season. Anderson said O'Neill wanted to break par in every tournament and match this fall, which hasn't worked out. Even though O'Neill is the defending state champion, he'll have to earn a state berth at the Southwest Washington Class 2A district tournament Oct. 19-20 in Kelso.
"My swing isn't the best right now, so people are coming up to me all the time trying to give advice," he said.
But there is time to recover, in the quirky world of Washington high school golf. If O'Neill qualifies for state, he'll have seven months to prepare, as the state tournament takes place May 24-25, 2011.
One drawback: O'Neill won't be going back to Apple Tree, as the tournament moves to Spokane, at a course to be determined.
"It's a little bit of a bummer," he said.
--Nick Daschel, special to The Oregonian