Swainsboro’s Colten Lewis wins the A-Division I State Championship

Swainsboro High School sophomore Colten Lewis took home the GHSA A-Division One State Championship by firing off a score of one-under-par in the two-round, 36-hole tournament.

On the first day of the tournament, Lewis shot 71 to take a two-shot lead on the closest competitor. That competitor being the defending State Champion, Everett Horne, a Senior from Lamar County, who edged out Lewis in last year’s tournament and his playing partner in the final round of this year’s edition. In this round, Lewis became a State Champion by carding an even-par (72) performance. Winning a championship at any sport is very difficult, but in golf it’s even more challenging because it is just you and your thoughts.

Colten spoke on what it means to be a State Champion, “It was an awesome feeling knowing my hard work had paid off. It’s taken years of practice and learning from my mistakes to finally figure out how to win golf tournaments.”

There are many ways to handle losing narrowly like Lewis did a year ago, but he used it to fuel his fire to become a crisper golfer and improve in every area he needed to. He went from being two shots away last year to winning by two shots this year.

The underclassmen had very high expectations for himself saying, “I definitely expected myself to win because I felt like I had worked harder than everybody else. There were a lot of good players in the tournament but I was there to control what I could control, which were my emotions and my own game.”

To accomplish this feat so young is one the more impressive things you’ll see in the sport. Swainsboro Golf’s head coach Heath Palmer was proud of Lewis after his victory, “Colten is a player that every coach dreams of coaching. His work ethic is unmatched and he’s as competitive as they come. He makes everyone around him better, the mark of a great player. He came close to winning the Championship last year; my goal this year was to allow him to play just as many courses as possible and continue to push him to be the best version of himself possible. He is a great golfer and a spectacular young man.” Those are some strong words coming from his coach and that just shows how special of a young man Colten is.

Over the next few years, Lewis has set some big goals for himself such as continuing to play junior golf tournaments, play college golf at a high level, then to pursue a professional golf career. More importantly than all of these accomplishments and aspirations Lewis said, “I want to continue to glorify God with the way I carry myself and handle my emotions.”