Fike’s Boyette ready for last run at state title

With another big golf tournament title in his pocket, Fike High senior Ethan Boyette marches toward a fourth straight conference championship with a much bigger prize on his mind.

The UNC Wilmington recruit has played in two U.S. Junior Amateur Opens and won a handful of Carolinas Golf Association and Tarheel Youth Golf Association high-profile events to certainly place Boyette among the elite golfers in his age group in the state, if not beyond.

But he hasn’t won an NCHSAA championship — yet.

“It is definitely up there on things I would like to win,” Boyette said in a telephone interview Friday morning.

One thing he did win recently was the Carolinas Golf Association’s fifth HV3 Invitational! at Cramer Mountain Club in Cramerton and Gaston Country Club in Gastonia over the weekend of March 23-24. The event is sponsored by current LIV touring pro and former East Carolina University star Harold Varner III and drew many high-level players from the Southeast.

Boyette shot a 4-under 69-70—139 to win by four strokes despite heavy winds the final round and rain on the first day at Cramer Mountain Club.

“Pretty high up there,” Boyette said of this win on his career list of accomplishments. “I’d say anytime you can, especially being a CGA event with people from like, four or five states from what I heard, being able to win a tournament where there was a pretty big field, a pretty strong field is always special. Just being in contention and following through is always a great thing.”

Boyette is a heavy favorite to qualify for his fourth straight NCHSAA 3-A championship when he tees it up at the NCHSAA 3-A East Regional match May 7 at Ironwood Country Club in Greenville. It’s unlikely his Fike team, which is headed for a fourth-place finish in the 3-A Quad County Conference, will qualify for the state tournament and there’s a good chance that Boyette may be the only golfer in the Times readership area playing at the state 3-A championship May 13-14 at Longleaf Golf and Family Club in Southern Pines.

Boyette posted his best finish in the state tournament last spring when he finished fourth but it was unsatisfying because he knew that he could do better. Shortly thereafter, he did. Boyette heated up on the late spring circuit, winning the CGA’s Carolinian Amateur in a field full of college and high school players and the TYGA’s ninth annual Bojangles Junior Open at Cutter Creek Golf Course near Snow Hill before taking third in a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying event in Virginia.

“I learned that I can compete with anybody,” he said of the experience. “Never shy away from big moments. Stay in every shot. When you have bad holes, they don’t determine the whole tournament. I’ve always lived by, ‘you can’t win the tournament in one hole but you can sure lose it.’”

The difference in Boyette this spring has been apparent.

“I think it’s kind of changed my perspective on the tournament itself; it’s not really all about winning,” he said. “It’s just, if I can just go out there, give it my best shot, I can’t really control what anybody else does. You know? I can’t really focus on winning the tournament because — that’s where I also think I’ve gotten a lot better. I’m not trying to win these tournaments anymore. I’m just trying to go out there and give it my best shot. I can’t control what anybody else does. If I can just play my best golf, do what I’m supposed to do mentally and stay in every shot, I’m pretty sure I can compete with the best out there.”

Demons head coach Glenn Jones said that Boyette, who won the 3-A Big East Conference championship as a freshman, has just matured into a seasoned golfer with tons of talent like his older brother, Bryson Boyette, the 2017 NCHSAA 3-A champion as a senior before starring at Barton College.

“He’s got his own goals and I think he’s really what his dad and I’ve talked about for years — it’s just like his brother did — it’s just trust the process and he’s doing that now,” Jones said. “I mean, he don’t get rattled. … He lost his first match in like two or three years the other week and he shot 75, I mean, he had two doubles in the same round and that’s unusual, but that’s about it. That’s about as far as it stretches. You’re not going to have a high number with him. And that, taken back from last year, when he’s in some situations where I think he shot an 80 or 81 last year at one of the matches and it just got away from him a little bit. I think we were at Southern Wayne and he may have had a high score or two on the hole and that just don’t happen no more.”

Indeed, Boyette did experience the rare occasion of not being the medalist in a conference match when he took a backseat to West Johnston’s Colby Stephens when Boyette shot 75 at Reedy Creek Golf Club in Four Oaks two weeks ago. Earlier this season at Wendell Country Club, Boyette shot a 73 to tie Stephens’ teammate Hayden Campbell for the low score.

Boyette has not gone below 70 in a conference match this season but Tuesday’s Quad County championship match will be a coronation for Boyette, who has an 18-stroke lead on Stephens in the drop total. Boyette definitely has shown the ability to play big in big matches, which may be why he’s not dropping a 65 in conference play.

“It’s kind of tough to say,” he said. “I think sometimes I just haven’t maybe hit the best some of the days, to be honest. I feel like I stay pretty focused, but I’m out there and just having a great time. I play with a few people I know. I just try to go out there and have a good time.”

While Boyette may be on his own after the regional, he’s expecting a dogfight at Ironwood just from the 3-A East golfers like his friends Will Guidry and Luke Mosley as well as Fayetteville Terry Sanford’s Ethan Paschal and Thomas Horne at the state tournament.

Boyette knows that this is his last shot at a state championship but he’s got a lot of golf ahead of him this summer and then at UNC Wilmington and who knows after that? Like his father and brother before him, Ethan Boyette has an eye on a professional golf career but he definitely wouldn’t mind winning his final high school match. Boyette is ready for the challenge.

“I think I’m a whole lot stronger than I was last year,” he said. “My swing, I feel like it looks and feels a whole lot better. I feel like I’m just in a better place overall. Mentally and physically, I think I’m a whole lot stronger and a lot more flexible. So I think I’ve developed over this year to hopefully just give it my best run at it. Just gotta keep on working. Still a little bit of time beforehand to get everything tightened up.”

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