EFFINGHAM — Having a player of Coen Pennington’s caliber on your golf team always gives you a chance.
It’s like having that one basketball player that you can count on for 20 points each night. Or that one pitcher, who’s always going to give you seven shutout innings.
Pennington has that characteristic, that trait where his game will always give his team a chance at success. He won’t let his team down and doesn’t want to.
This year, though, he had numerous options to assist him, all with the same quality — one of whom was his younger brother, Kade.
Kade finished his sophomore season with an 80.8 scoring average. He shot a 76 on the second day of the state tournament, all but securing the victory for the Wooden Shoes.
“I improved a lot since my freshman year,” Kade said. “I was shooting in the high-to-mid-80s and now I’m shooting in the low 80s and high 70s. I hope to improve even more, too.”
Coen finished the year as one of the area’s best golfers. He finished with a 70.9 scoring average.
“I came out and grinded my butt off more than I did last year, especially on my putting,” Coen said. “That kind of helped me a lot.”
Winning Teutopolis’ first boys golf state championship was the icing on top of the cake for the both of them.
“It means a lot, especially for my parents. They’re really proud of us and it’s really cool,” Coen said. “We grew up together, playing golf all the time. This past season, I had him coming out a lot more and he ended up playing amazing for us; he basically won us the [state] tournament.”
Head coach Mike Wilson couldn’t think any more of either of them.
The intensity and talent both bring are unmatched, and for Kade, that will only continue to show as he matures.
“He had a lot of rounds where he played well,” said Wilson of Kade. “That was very important to us. He just has to not get mentally rattled when he has a bad hole or a three-putt he shouldn’t have had, which takes him a hole or two to get out of his head. Once we get him over that, where those things don’t affect him, you’re talking about shaving two or three shots a round.
“I felt like he became such a better putter,” Wilson continued when discussing Coen. “He was more consistent with everything, but his putting, I felt like, was the noticeable difference, until the state tournament. And it wasn’t bad putting; it was just the ball didn’t go in the hole for him.”
Having that third score in the 70s was the difference in the team bringing home a state championship.
All year long, there was typically always one extra player, aside from Coen and junior Isaac Weber, who achieved it.
On the second day of the state tournament, Kade was the one who did it.
Kade said that he loves to mimic his brother when he’s on the course.
The way Coen works is how he wants to work.
“I try to work a lot on my short game and I try to go to the gym more, so I can hit farther like my brother,” Kade said. “Right now, I don’t hit it that far, but I’m going to work on that.”
Wilson said the two do have those “brother moments,” though, making it all the more enjoyable.
“When Kade is having a round where he’s right at Coen or maybe a shot or two ahead, he knows it and he wants to make sure Coen knows it,” Wilson said.