Pirates’ treasure: Ottawa boys golf team brought home the state’s biggest prize

When Ottawa senior Chandler Creedon reached the 18th tee box Saturday during the final round of the Class 2A State Finals at Illinois State University’s Weibring Golf Club, he received some pretty exciting news from Pirates coach Keith Budowski.

“He told me that Bryer (Harris) and I just needed to make pars to clinch the championship,” Creedon said. “Any nerves I had went away, because I knew that was going to happen. Once I made (my par) and then watching Bryer sink his final putt, man, it was the best feeling I’ve ever had.”

Harris’ 5-foot par putt capped a historic season that saw the Pirates win seven regular-season tournaments, Interstate 8 Conference season and meet titles, regional and sectional plaques, and the granddaddy of them all, a state championship.

It’s the first team state title in school history.

Families, fans and classmates filled the west end of Kingman Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon to honor the team and coaches – seniors Seth Cooper, Deklan Gage and Creedon, juniors Colt Bryson and Jacob Armstrong, sophomore Harris and freshman James Threadgill, along with assistant coaches Gerry Couch, Mark Cooper, Ryan Gunderson, and head coach Keith Budzowski – for their amazing accomplishments.

“We did it.”

—  Seth Cooper, senior on the Ottawa Class 2A state champion boys golf team

Ottawa held a 13-shot lead heading into to Saturday’s final round, but with a few holes to play runner-up Benton had closed the gap to six.

“With those last few holes to go, I felt we were in a good spot, but it was a little nerve-racking because Benton, who has finished second three times in the past five seasons, was kind of closing in on us,” Budzowski said. “I just wanted to stay calm so any interactions with the guys would help them stay calm as well. I let them know pars were good and a bogey here or there was OK.”

The Pirates advanced to state in 2021 and finished eighth, but the past two seasons ended at sectionals in heart-breaking fashion, missing by two shots in 2022 and by a fifth-score tiebreaker in 2023.

“I feel the difference this season was our depth,” Budzowski said. “Three years ago when we went to state, Chandler and Seth were freshmen and still trying to figure things out. This year we were a solid five-deep, and even James posted some really good scores for us along the way. We also had Jacob, who had struggled the last month or so, put together two incredible rounds to lead the way.

“It was so fun and gratifying to see them reach the goal they set for themselves while also knowing how hard they all worked to make it happen.”

Creedon said the four years on the Ottawa golf team had its ups and downs, but winning state and having Seth share in the moment is the greatest feeling.

“Oh yeah, my role was quite different this year since freshman year,” Creedon said. “Back then, while I wanted to shoot well, I guess I didn’t feel any pressure with older guys like Drake Kaufman, Drake Stoudt and Jonathan Cooper kind of leading the way. This year, even though I guess I’m the older guy now, I still didn’t feel a lot of pressure. I think that was because I knew how much we all had worked in the offseason, and I knew we’d all step up [at state] when we needed to like we had all season.

“The way the last two seasons ended hurt a lot, so I just wanted to do all that I could to not feel that way again.

“Seth and I have been playing together since Pine Hill Tournaments back when we were 6 years old. We have a lot of history together playing golf, and it’s been awesome to see how we’ve both improved over the years. It will always be special looking back at this season knowing we both stuck with golf and were able to reach the ultimate high school goal of a state championship.”

In their four years, Creedon and Seth Cooper have been part of 29 overall tournament championships, including four regional, one sectional and three conference, and finished 34-1 in duals.

Seth Cooper, who advanced to state as an individual as a sophomore, said the weekend brought back a lot of memories. And while he wasn’t exactly sure about his team’s lead as he finished up his final handful of holes, he knew they were in a pretty good position.

“I just opened my phone, put my score in [the scoring ap] and closed my phone. I didn’t look at anything else,” Seth Cooper said. “So while I didn’t know exactly where we stood throughout Saturday’s round, I did know that Jacob was still playing well, and that Chandler, Colt and Bryer were playing steady. I didn’t play as well as I would have liked, but that happens, and I was happy that I kept grinding.

“At the end of the day, we won the championship as a team, and that is all that matters to me. We did it.”