Sep. 20—FAIRMONT — It was a special moment for Marion County golf Tuesday afternoon. East Fairmont golf won the inaugural Coach Malone Cup in the Marion County Golf Championship at Green Hills Country Club.
“It’s very special,” East Fairmont Head Coach David Webb said. “Coach [Bill] Malone was a golf coach. He was a mentor. And the trophy is going home. I think he would be happy and proud that it’s going home for a whole year at East Fairmont High School.”
The three high schools, East Fairmont, Fairmont Senior and North Marion, always play a round of 18-holes the day after every Big X golf championship, according to Fairmont Senior Head Coach Luke Corley and North Marion Head Coach Chance Hearn. The purpose is to prepare the golfers for the state tournament.
According to Corley, he, Hearn and Malone had discussed having a trophy for the Marion County Championship, but there wasn’t a reason to make one until Malone’s passing.
“When I first started coaching, Malone showed me the ropes of how coaching golf was supposed to work,” Corley said. “We wanted to do something as a whole, East, [Senior] and North to commemorate Malone. That’s how we came up with the Coach Malone Cup for the Marion County Championship.”
For Hearn, he thought it fitting that East Fairmont, Malone’s old team, won the cup that bears the late coach’s name.
“[Malone] was a good friend of mine, and I’ve known him for 24 years,” Hearn said. “And I miss him. I’m very glad we could host it, and it was fitting that the East Fairmont Bees won the trophy in his honor today.”
Before the match started, Hearn explained the rules to the players and everyone present. Each team fielded seven golfers, split into groups of three with one player from each team in each group.
Hearn also congratulated Fairmont Senior for winning the Big X championship and East Fairmont for finishing second in the Big X on Monday. He introduced the Coach Malone Cup to everyone there, and he celebrated the two seniors on the hosting North Marion team, Garett Stanley and Sawyer Perkins.
East Fairmont won with a score of 332, totaled by combining the four best scores of its seven players. Trace Tucker led the Bees with 79, followed by Garrett Bosley with 83 and Blake Hunt and Greyson Stewart with 85 each.
“Definitely rough on the front nine,” Hunt said. “Shooting 12 over was not fun, but the back nine was definitely better. Got everything settled.”
Fairmont Senior took second with 333, one stroke behind East Fairmont. Caleb Young scored the lowest for Fairmont Senior and overall in the event with 74. Caden Musgrove followed him with 82. Landen Barkley finished with 88, and Tristan Wolford had 89.
“The back nine is harder,” Young said. “I think I played better on the back nine, but I think I scored better on the front nine.”
North Marion finished with a team score of 420. Stanley scored the best with 82, followed by Matt Snoderly with 107, Perkins with 109 and Colton Stanley with 116.
“The front nine I played some pretty solid golf,” Garett Stanley said. “I think I ended the front nine two over [par]. Then the back nine just kind of fell apart a little bit. Mainly just mental. That’s where I need to work on the most before Monday at regionals.”
All three teams now turn their attention to regionals on Monday, Sept. 25 at Tygart Lake. After that, the state tournament takes place Oct. 2-4 at Oglebay.
Reach Colin C. Rhodes at 304-367-2548