Swinging for a state championship
Owen junior Keira Johnson to tee off in 2021 NCHSAA Women’s 1A/2A Golf State Championship
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 24, 2021
Keira Johnson, pictured with her grandfather and head coach Dean McElrath (left) and father and assistant coach Tim Johnson, will represent Owen High School in the 2021 NCHSAA Women’s 1A/2A Golf State Championship, Oct. 25. Photo courtesy of Jenny Johnson
When the top 1A and 2A high school golfers in N.C. descend upon the Longleaf Golf & Family Country Club in Pinehurst, Monday, Oct. 25, for a two-day tournament to crown a state champion, the familiar maroon and white of Owen High School will be represented by Keira Johnson.
As the junior approaches the tee box on the 10th hole for her scheduled 10 a.m. start, her appearance in the state tournament will be the realization of a goal she set for herself a year ago.
Johnson has been the sole member of the Owen Warlassies golf team since her freshman season in the fall of 2019. The women’s golf program at the school had been idle for several years before her arrival.
“I knew I wanted to play golf when I came to high school,” said Johnson, who previously played for the Owen Middle School team.
She turned to her grandfather, Dean McElrath, who had enjoyed a long career as a teacher and coach at Owen. McElrath led the Warlassies softball team to two state championships in his nearly three decades at the helm, and his resume also included a stint as the head coach of the Warhorse basketball team. He returned as a volunteer assistant in recent years, but had no experience coaching golf.
He didn’t hesitate to offer his coaching services to his granddaughter.
“It’s been great having him there,” Johnson said. “He’s very supportive, because without him coaching I wouldn’t have been able to play. Practice is like a family event.”
Keira Johnson, a junior at Owen and the sole member of the Warlassies golf team, won the Western Highlands Conference Player of the Year Award in 2021, after wining seven conference tournaments and averaging the lowest score in the conference. Photo courtesy of Jenny Johnson
Johnson didn’t know what to expect heading into her freshman season, but the instruction she received over the years from her father, Tim, who earned All-American honors while a member of Palm Beach Atlantic University team before touring professionally and later embarking on a lengthy career as a golf pro, proved immediately valuable.
“She shocked some people in the conference that first year,” said Tim, who joined his father-in-law on the Warlassies’ staff as a volunteer assistant coach this year. “There were about six or seven juniors and seniors, and Keira struggled in some of the early tournaments. These girls would drive the ball 80 yards farther than her, but she would always get it around the green and her short game was amazing.”
Keira and her parents had been playing golf together, recreationally, for years. A favorite summertime activity for the family involved going to grab ice cream and heading to the putting green at the Black Mountain Golf Course.
“She would practice chipping and putting for around an hour, that was part of our family time,” Tim said. “So, her short game has always been where she’s really thrived.”
While Tim and his wife Jenny didn’t steer their daughter toward any specific sport, Keira decided to focus exclusively on golf after middle school. Her commitment quickly paid off.
As a freshman, she finished runner-up for the Western Highlands Conference Player of the Year Award, and qualified for her first NCHSAA Women’s 1A/2A Golf Regional Tournament. The COVID-19 pandemic forced her sophomore season to be shortened, and pushed back to the spring.
Keira played on the SNEDS Junior Golf Tour in Tennessee in the summer of 2020, and her dad brought her to Asheville-based PGA Professional Robert Green.
“We also got her fit for new clubs, and made an investment in getting her the right equipment,” Tim said. “Setting her up with those clubs and connecting her with someone, besides me, who can teach her, helped her reinvent her swing.”
Owen junior Keira Johnson, who will represent her school in the 2021 NCHSAA Women’s 1A/2A Golf State Championship, Oct. 25, practices on the course near her home in Black Mountain. Photo courtesy of Jenny Johnson.
The trust Keira developed in her game through her freshman year carried over to last season, as she began competing consistently with the top players in the conference. She was once again the runner-up for conference player of the year, and qualified for a return to the regional tournament.
“She finished 21st at regionals last year,” Tim said. “In a normal year, the top 26 advance to state, but because of COVID-19, I believe only 16 qualified for the state championship last year.”
The experience motivated Keira as she looked ahead to her junior year.
“I wanted to have a strong season,” she said. “It was my goal, coming in, to go back to regionals and make it to state this year.”
The confidence Keira gained in her first two seasons, and the addition of her father as an assistant coach, elevated her game. As a junior, she won seven conference matches, a spot on the WHC All-Tournament team and averaged the lowest score in the conference. Her success on the course earned her the conference player of the year award, and set her up for an Oct. 18 return to the regional tournament in Salisbury.
“She came out on fire, and her confidence was on a level I hadn’t seen before,” said her father. “She shot par on the first five holes to start the round, with all of that pressure, and playing in a group with a two-time defending regional champion. It was exciting to see.”
Keira placed 10th in the regional tournament, finally earning that elusive state championship appearance.
“I was really excited,” she said. “I knew around the 17th hole that I was in, but I waited until I was completely sure to tell anybody.”
From Tim’s perspective, Keira turned a corner in her golf career that day.
“Everything really just clicked into place for her,” he said. “She’s gotten to the point where she recognizes things in her swing, and she’s able to self-correct. That’s what great golfers do.”
Her belief in her game remains high, as she prepares to take on the other top golfers in the state.
“I want to finish in the top 25,” Keira said. “I hope to shoot in the 80s on both days of the tournament, and I’m confident I can do that.”
Success in the state tournament should involve two key aspects, according to her father.
“The first is for her to have fun, and enjoy the experience, because you never know if you’ll have it again,” Tim said. “The second is that once that last ball goes in the hole, she feels good about her performance on those two days.”