Being a member of a state title championship team is the stuff dreams are made of for high school athletes. Brookstone School senior Evans Copeland had that experience last year when the boys golf team captured the state title. Apparently, it was such a memorable event that Copeland wants a repeat performance.
“It was awesome,” Copeland, 17, said. “We had been progressing throughout the season to that point. It was very emotional. It would be great to do it again.”
Although Copeland has been golfing since the age of 4, he didn’t get serious about golf as a competitive sport until about a-year-and-a-half ago. Up until then, he had been an avid golfer as a pastime due to the influences of those close to him.
“I was swinging a plastic club early,” Copeland said. “It’s a family thing. My grandfather went to Georgia Tech playing golf. My dad and others play golf, so it was just kind of the thing for me to do.”
He entered his first golf tournament in the seventh grade. As his golf game improved, Copeland played for Brookstone’s middle school team. His freshman year he was a member of the Cougars junior varsity and varsity golf teams. That year his average scoring was 90. The next year Copeland whittled his average scoring to 81, and he really began to invest the time and attention needed to become a contender in the sport. A funny thing happened in Copeland’s life that literally heightened his ability to compete.
“I grew,” Copeland said, laughing.
Standing 5’2” as a sophomore, Copeland didn’t have the physical stature to play the way others his age played. He experienced a massive growth spurt, gaining close to 10 inches on his way to becoming a junior at Brookstone. Then, Copeland saw his potential as a college prospect grow too.
Copeland’s junior year was really the breakout year for him. Although the state tournament was the highlight, there were other memorable golf moments.
“Evans finished the season on a very high note,” said Hunter Chapman, Brookstone varsity boys golf coach, about Copeland’s 2016 season. “Throughout the months of April and May, Evans’ tournament scoring average was 72.5 in eight rounds. In area and state, the tournaments that matter most, Evans shot 71 and 73, respectively. He was the low medalist at area and one of the lowest in the field at state. His best tournament of the season came at The Invite in Gainesville. There he went toe-to-toe with some of the best golfers in the state and shot a 71 (-1) in the first round and a 67 (-5) in the second round for a two-day total of 138 (-6) and a fourth-place individual finish.”
In addition, Chapman said that Copeland was the low medalist in the Brookstone Invitational with a score of 74 and that he tied sixth individually at the Hardaway Invitational with a two-day score of 147 (+3).
Copeland worked hard, sometimes putting in 30 hours of golf practice or play a week. He attracted the attention of some colleges, so Copeland made a mental list of what he wanted at the next level. One of the schools stood out early. After a visit to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, Copeland knew he found the right place.
“When I stepped on the campus, I just knew,” Copeland said. “It felt like me. I loved everything about Washington and Lee. The buildings, the environment. It was such a good fit that I would be perfectly fine not playing golf.”
In December he made the choice to attend Washington and Lee official. With that decision out of the way, Copeland said he felt free to focus on his senior golf season. The first golf tournaments have started and will culminate with Brookstone’s golf team hosting the A Private Boys and Girls State Tournaments at Green Island County Club in Columbus.
The senior is looking forward to making another run at the state title. He will be joined on the Brookstone team by fellow seniors William Reave and Frank Waldrep. Copeland described Reave as a “consistent player” and Waldrep as “very athletic and aggressive.” Combined with Copeland’s self-described strengths in chipping and putting, the Cougars have a good shot at back-to-back state titles.
“We are more mature this time,” Copeland said. “We’re a stronger and deeper team. We have seven solid players who could play well and get there again.”
Hosting the state tournament and defending a championship title might be a little daunting to some athletes. Copeland doesn’t see it that way.
“I think it will be fun more than anything,” he said. “We will have more people here than the other teams. Every member of our team is very familiar with playing this (Green Island) course.”
And just in case the Cougars get to the state tournament and find it to be a greater talent field or more intense than anticipated, Copeland will be in his element.
“I like the pressure, the adrenaline rush toward the end of the tournament,” Copeland said.
Brookstone School
Columbus Valley/March 2017
Written by: Beth Welch | Photos by: George McDuffie
Repeat Championship Is High on Golfer’s List
