The562’s coverage of Long Beach golf for the 2024 season is sponsored from Dan and Desiree Gooch.
The story of Bryson Barnes’ rise to the top of the Moore League boys’ golf mountain is something you might find in a Hollywood script.
Barnes lost a chance to take the individual league title last year because he let his fiery competitiveness get the best of him in the early rounds. On Thursday in the final round of the same four-day tournament, the Wilson senior controlled his emotions like a veteran to take the championship with room to spare. He also did it while playing the final round on his home course alongside his freshman brother and teammate Bodie Barnes.
“I’m just trying to look at the good in all of it and the memories,” Barnes said after making his par putt on the 18th hole at Recreation Park Golf Course to finish the round with a 4-under par 68 and a tournament total 282. That’s 13 strokes better than second place.
“I got to play with my little brother which was amazing and super special,” Barnes added. “I was almost kind of sad thinking this is my last high school match at the course I’ve played 1,000 times. And I got to do it with the people I enjoy being around most. So it was a mix of all the emotions but in the end it was satisfying.”
Barnes overcame a pair of disappointing missed birdie putts early in his final round, and a slower group playing in front of him on the back nine.
“He has a lot of fire to him and his challenge has always been how to live in that space without letting it hurt,” Wilson coach Paul Henry said. “Last year, he let that fire get away from him and this year he seemed to harness it really well. I’m really impressed with how he’s matured. He’s come a very long way since ninth grade.”
Wilson golfers have won the last eight individual league titles, and Barnes thinks his familiarity with the home course and lots of practice was key to continuing the Bruins tradition.
“It’s taking notes from off the course and translating it into practice,” Barnes said. “I wasn’t as stressed going into those shots and I was able to hit them with more confidence and it helped a ton.”
Barnes felt confident when he stepped over his second shot on the par-5 14th hole, but a group of paying golfers in front of him were struggling to keep a good pace of play. He quietly but visibly expressed his frustration, and then hit his shot long and left of the pin.
“I’m a fast player so when I get iced like that it does frustrate me a little bit,” Barnes said. “I had a really good feel for the shot, but they took so long.”
Instead of letting that get to him, Barnes delivered a pair of phenomenal approach shots on the next two holes that nearly went in, and his tee shot on the par-3 16th was inches from going in on the fly.
“I tend to get angry over shots and it’s because I hold myself to a high standard,” Barnes said. “Overall it’s not letting yourself get stuck on one shot because it can affect you for the next five or ten holes, you just never know. In most cases operating off of anger isn’t going to provide the results you want. It’s a hard thing to do and I’m still working on it.”
Wilson’s Tyler Merlina shot a 75 on Thursday and took second place with a tournament total of 295 while Millikan’s Tyler Lao took third at 305 thanks in large part to his 69 in the third round at El Dorado Golf Course.
Wilson freshman Bodie Barnes’ fourth place finish with a total of 306 is even more impressive considering he’s been a reserve golfer for the Bruins for most of the season. A quality birdie putt on the 14th hole helped him keep momentum down the stretch.
“He works harder than anybody, he understands his swing and is probably the smartest in terms of the choices he makes out on the course,” Henry said of his freshman. “He doesn’t do risky. He doesn’t do stupid. He’s okay with getting a bogey on the holes he’s supposed to get a bogey because he knows he’s going to get it back. I am beyond impressed with how he handled the week.”
Obviously it’s rare for siblings to play together in the final round of this tournament together and that wasn’t lost on the Barnes brothers.
“I’ve grown up playing with him so it was really cool to have like a full circle moment,” Bodie said of playing with Bryson. “We’ve been playing tournaments (outside of high school since we were young) so it was good to play with him (in his last high school) year.”
“Where (Bodie) was three months ago is nowhere near where he is now,” Bryson added. “It’s really amazing to see him make the final group and see him make putts and bomb drives. It was a really cool experience.”
The Barnes brothers, Merlina and Lao will be joined by Wilson’s Dresden Underwood and Long Beach Poly’s Nathan Brava-Partain as the six Moore League representatives for the CIF Southern Section individual regionals on Monday.
Underwood and Brava-Partain advanced after surviving a playoff with Wilson’s Owen White when they tied for fifth at 308. Earlier on the signature 18th hole, Underwood used an amazing uphill shot out of the trees from about 160-yards out to within just a few feet of the pin. The birdie got him to the playoff where he stuck his approach on the 1st hole to birdie again.
“A week ago I was practicing that exact shot from about 65-yards out,” Underwood said. “I just trusted it. I knew I had it, and I put it close.”
Brava-Partain uses a unique way of lining up his putts, an aim-point strategy, and that helped him make par in the playoff and advance with Underwood.
“Basically you feel the percentage of slope in the ground with your feet, you kind of just get good at that with a digital leveler, and that corresponds to how many fingers you hold up depending on which way it brakes,” Brava-Partain said.
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