JT Keith
Champions don’t always show up in the trophy presentation. Sometimes they show up in the decision — the one made when playing it safe would have been the easy move. Artesia sophomore Beau Byers faced that moment in the Class 4A state golf tournament, and he didn’t blink.
Byers finished second at state for the second straight year, one shot behind Albuquerque Academy’s Thomas Whitten — the same player Byers tied for third with a season ago.
The situation was simple on the 18th hole: Byers and Whitten were tied. A par likely keeps him in it. A birdie wins it outright.
Artesia coach Tristan Bowden said he asked Byers what he wanted to do. Byers didn’t hesitate.
“I’m going to make birdie to win,” Byers told him.
Byers didn’t get the tee shot he wanted, but he still played the hole with the flag in mind. He reached the green in three and finished with a bogey — the kind that stings when a title is sitting right there.
Bowden said Byers was upset in the moment, but his perspective showed up later on the bus ride home. Bowden said Byers called it a learning experience and said he knows what he has to do to get better and win it next year.
That mindset is exactly what Bowden wants from his golfers — playing to win instead of playing not to lose.
“I want that out of all of my kids,” Bowden said. “I don’t want them to hold back. It would have been easy for him to just make par, but he wanted to win it on the 18th hole in front of a big crowd — about 100 people.”
Byers finished second individually at 149 after rounds of 78 and 71. Whitten won the title at 148.
“I know Beau felt disappointed with the finish,” Bowden said, “but he gained a lot of knowledge on that last hole.”
And that’s the point worth celebrating when the moment asked for caution, Byers chose conviction. The result will fuel an offseason, but the approach — going for the win with everything on the line — is already championship stuff.