By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

The Davie golf team wasn’t sensational in the Central Piedmont Conference Tournament at Salem Glen on April 29. But because its production in the regular season was insane, the War Eagles could afford to take a nap and coast home to their first conference championship in 27 years.

After capturing all eight of the CPC’s nine-hole matches and building a 69-stroke lead, they tied for third in the CPCT.

West Forsyth and Reagan shared first with 317s. Davie and Reynolds tied at 32-over 320. East Forsyth (336) and Mt. Tabor (353) rounded out the team scoring.

Davie was paced by a pair of 6-over 78s from senior Cooper Drum and junior Landon Packard. Senior Evan Owen was next at 81. Senior Beck Owen, whom you will hear more about, and junior Anderson Beliveau had 83s to complete Davie’s scoring.

Davie’s gigantic season saw it finish with 1,522 strokes in CPC play. West was a distant second at 1,588. The other team totals: Reagan 1602, Reynolds 1643, East Forsyth 1719, Mt. Tabor 1729.

The War Eagles awakened the echoes from yesteryear by finishing on top. They won 10 straight North Piedmont Conference titles back in the day (1975-84). They won CPC crowns in 1987 and 1997, so this one was a long time coming.

Five War Eagles cracked the top 10 in the individual standings to earn all-conference honors. Davie’s biggest star in CPC play was E. Owen, who was third in the league at 341, or nine off the pace. B. Owen was fifth at 345, Packard sixth at 346, Beliveau eighth at 351 and Drum 10th at 353.

Midwest Regional

B. Owen was a big part of Davie’s CPC glory, but, my gosh, did he take his game to another level in the Midwest 4-A Regional at Skybrook on May 6.

He shot an even-par 72 to finish three shots back and tie for eighth overall. The cutoff to qualify for the state was 73, so B. Owen punched his ticket to the state tournament.

How spectacular was B. Owen’s round? The 72 marked Davie’s finest regional effort since Wesley Sink’s 72 in 2015.

“He has made some clutch putts all year,” coach Scott Spillman said. “Several of our matches this year ended with him making a big putt on the last hole. That happened again at regionals, where he made a putt on 18 to secure that even round.”

Drum tied for 35th with a 79. E. Owen and Beliveau had 80s to tie for 40th. Packard shot 84 as Davie tied for sixth out of 22 teams.

Northwest Guilford won the team title at 1-under 287. Marvin Ridge (289), Grimsley (300), Page (307) and West Forsyth (308) finished ahead of Davie and Cuthbertson (311s). The rest of the scoring: Reagan 312, Northern Guilford 318, Weddington 321, Cox Mill 334, Lake Norman 335, South Iredell 339.

Only the top three teams advanced, so B. Owen was Davie’s lone state qualifier. From 2003-24, a span of 22 years, Davie has seen two guys shoot even or better in the regional tournament – B. Owen and Sink. B. Owen became just the fourth state qualifier in the last 10 years; the others were Sink in 2015 and 2017 and Beliveau in 2023.

“Beck keeps the ball in play and is a good ball-striker,” Spillman said. “He seems to play in the present and always focusses on the next shot, which is big. He has worked really hard on his game this year.”