Lapel revels in IHSAA golf state champion Macy Beeson
FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) — Earlier this month, a big roar came from a small town 35 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
Just shy of 3,000 Hoosiers call Lapel home, and, on this occasion, nearly everyone agreed this story deserved its own parade.
“It’s nice to come from a small school and community because you know everyone, and everyone is just proud,” Lapel High School sophomore golfer Macy Beeson said.
Beeson humbly accepted the spotlight following her triumph at the 2020 IHSAA Girls Golf State Tournament at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.
This past Friday, she cruised in the back of a convertible as the Bulldogs marching band led a celebration through the town’s downtown streets.
Beeson, nowhere near the most physically imposing player in the field, let her putter do the talking over the two-day state tournament.
Her 36-hole score of 2-over-par 146 bested Carmel freshman Michaela Headlee by one shot.
Headlee’s feverish, second-round comeback ended with a missed birdie try on the 18th hole, which would have forced a playoff.
“I told my coach, I told my dad, that I just wanted to play simple golf,” Beeson said. “Coach and I have this saying, ‘Fairways, greens, birdies’ and I just wasn’t trying to put pressure on myself.”
The trickiest part of locking up the IHSAA individual state title? The waiting.
Due to the Bulldogs not qualifying in the team competition, Beeson’s tee time was bright and early, with Carmel’s Headlee going off toward the very end of the tee sheet.
“It was about three hours we waited,” Beeson said. “It was really close as we watched them, so I went back to the range and I just did my whole warm-up routine again.”
“It was probably the longest three hours of my life.”
Lapel, which showed up in force with the full Bulldogs tennis team alongside fellow local supporters, celebrated with a post-round photo that certainly will find its way to the school’s athletic hall of fame.
“A lot of tears, a lot of hard work, it’s a rollercoaster literally,” Macy’s father, Ryan Beeson, told News 8. “She has the god-gifted ability to do it.”
“I started crying, all my hard work is paying off,” Beeson said. “It just feels good.”
Waiting around isn’t so bad when your entire hometown is right behind you.