Humphreys wins state in his backyard

Brian Humphreys beat the rain in the first round. In the finals, he didn’t let it beat him.

The Camas High School freshman shot the best round of 74 strokes on a soggy and windy Wendesday at Camas Meadows to become the 4A boys golf state champion.

“This feels incredible,” Humphreys said. “My goal was just to finish in the top three. To be able to win it all under these conditions, after all the hard work I put into this makes it that much sweeter.”

Shivers crept down Humphreys’ spine as he stepped up to the first tee on May 21. He smashed his drive down the middle of the fairway to scatter the butterflies.

Humphreys made birdies on the second, third, seventh and eighth holes. He shot 2-under on the par-72 course to tie for the lead with four other golfers going into the final round.

“This is my home course. People expect me to play well on it,” Humphreys said. “I had to live up to their expectations, and the expectations I set for myself.”

Humphreys did his homework on Camas Meadows. He didn’t have to second guess his shots because he’s played there so much.

“It tests most of the aspects of your game,” he said. “You’ve got to be accurate off the tee, and the greens are sloped and rigid. It’s a very fair test of golf.”

The rain and wind picked up after Humphreys finished his first round. It would be the last anybody would see of the sun until the tournament was over.

The Papermaker nailed birdies on the second and seventh holes Wednesday. He made the turn with a five-stroke lead, before getting a couple bogies. Humphreys settled down and pared the rest of the holes.

“Today, there were no excuses,” Humphreys said. “I had to play in the rain just like everybody else.”

Eastlake’s Li Wang pressured Humphreys with a birdie on the 17th hole, but Humphreys made his par putt to maintain a two-stroke lead. He hit his approach shot on 18 over the water fountain on the left and a sand trap on the right, and dropped his ball about 8 feet from the hole.

“It was a big relief to get that ball on the green,” Humphreys said. “If it would have gone in the water, it would have been a nightmare. That was the last hill I needed to climb.”

Camas junior Braeden Campbell shot rounds of 80 and 81 to finish in 30th place at the state tournament. Humphreys and Campbell pushed the Papermakers up to fourth place in the team standings.

“I’ve never seen kids work as hard as these two,” said head coach Ed Givens. “They ended up getting a fourth-place trophy. That’s a pretty good piece of work by two individuals. I cannot tell you how good this feels.”

Campbell and Humphreys have been on the golf course together, rain or shine, since February. And it all paid off for them Wednesday.

“To get a team trophy and a state champion was worth it,” Campbell said.