Highland Christian golfer takes aim at history

Published 2:34 pm Tuesday, May 26, 2009

In the beginning, geography led Craig Crawford to the doorstep of history.

While growing up on Camano Island, Crawford was a baseball fan who dreamed of one day playing in the big leagues. But when his parents moved into a house that bordered on Camaloch Golf Course, his destiny was written for him.

Now Crawford dreams of playing on the PGA Tour, and that goal might be a little more realistic than one might think. Crawford has already won two Washington state Class 1B/2B golf titles, and the Highland Christian senior hopes to add an historic third this week.

“It would mean a ton,” Crawford said of the possibility that he wins title No. 3 at this week’s 1B/2B golf tournament in Kennewick. “Winning four was my goal, but I (took second place) my sophomore year, so to win three would be fantastic.”

Crawford is currently one of just 12 golfers in all four WIAA classifications who have won multiple state titles. He hopes to join an even more elite group this week.

Only Richland’s Steve Stull (1967-1969) and Hockinson’s Gaston de la Toree (2006-2008) have won three state titles in golf. Not even Fred Couples, widely acknowledged as the greatest golfer to come from this state, could win more than two titles.

Working in Crawford’s favor is his history of success — in addition to two titles and a runner-up finish, he took seventh in the state as an eighth grader — and a golf game that has continued to improve.

“I’ve been more consistent this year,” Crawford said. “I’m longer off the tee and putting way better. I’m starting to peak in the later part of the season. I definitely feel like I’ve improved.”

Not that Crawford needed to. Golf has come fairly easily to him since the age of 12, when a family friend turned him on to the sport. His parents soon moved to the house near Camaloch GC, and Crawford put in three to four hours a day on the course while being home schooled.

“I’d just hop the fence on the second hole and play from there,” he said.

During the year and a half that he lived next to the golf course, Crawford saw his scores drop from the high 80s to the high 70s.

By the eighth grade, he was good enough to qualify for the state tournament.

“He’s got the overall package, and you don’t see that very often in high school,” said Craig Welty, Crawford’s swing coach. “He’s got the long game, he’s got the short game, and he’s got the mindset.

“What sets him apart is his mind, the way he thinks on a golf course, and his attitude. He can have a bad hole, then come back and hit two, three, four birdies. It doesn’t bother him like it would most high-school kids.”

Crawford’s lowest score came last summer, when he shot a 67 at a local course, and his handicap is a plus-0.7.

Crawford hasn’t shot higher than 76 in any of his past three state-tournament appearances, so don’t expect the Western Washington University-bound senior to get nervous this week. And as far as pressure goes, Crawford doesn’t expect that to cripple his game either.

“No pressure,” he said. “My sophomore year, I felt pressure trying to defend my first one. I do get nervous, though. I always get the first-tee jitters, like anyone else. I’m just going to try and relax and have fun with it.”

And, perhaps, Crawford will also make history.

“The cool thing about it is that he set a goal, at the beginning of his high-school career, of winning all four,” Welty said. “That’s a pretty lofty goal, and not a very realistic one.

“Of course, he didn’t win his sophomore year. But for him to still have a chance to win three is amazing. It couldn’t happen to a better person.”