For some spectators, it seemed like Hagan Halfmann was just another player helping the Garden City boys golf team win back-to-back state titles Tuesday, May 21.
Only a few knew he had just recently suffered severe injuries from a four-wheeler accident.
Garden City head coach David Wood said the wreck happened just one week after his team's April 23 regional tournament in Lubbock, where the senior shot 94-85-179.
"He hurt his back pretty badly and we thought it was going to keep him out of the (state) tournament," Wood said.
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Tana Halfmann, Hagan's mother, said in addition to the back injury, he suffered multiple face fractures, a gash to his forehead, a concussion and had ribs out of place. However, the only injury bothering him was his back.
"Ahead of the tournament, he was talking about not playing, but his parents and sisters rallied around him and told him to give it a try," Wood said.
Tana said she didn't want him to regret anything.
"While everyone was taking warm-up swings, he was texting his dad and saying he may not be able to play because of the pain," Tana said. "We obviously weren't going to force him into anything, but we just told him to play a few holes and see how he feels. We told him he didn't have to play as well as last year when he won state, but he should at least try to play."
After about three holes, Tana said Hagan started to feel much better.
"I don't know if it was the pain medicine he took before, or if his back just got loosened up, but you could see it on his face that something changed," Tana said.
Hagan did more than just play all 36 holes over the two-day tournament. He took 16th place out of 71 golfers in the Class 1A field, shooting 89-90—179.
It was enough to help Garden City defend its state title by a mere four shots over Eula.
"Without him, we still would've done well. With the scores from the others, we would've tied for third," Wood said. "But we're not winning it if he didn't play."
RELATED: UIL STATE GOLF: Defending champs Garden City in second
Not only was Hagan facing pain, he also had to deal with the possibility he may be a bit rusty after not practicing much for several weeks.
"There were three weeks between regional and state, and he got hurt a week after the regional. He didn't go to school in the beginning because he was still recovering and he didn't practice much," Tana said.
Hagan didn't spend too much time in the hospital, but he was still seeing a chiropractor.
Tana said she is immensely proud of him and how he pushed through it.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I'm sure when I see him graduate next week, it'll hit me then," Tana said.
Wood said he's proud of not only Hagan, but the whole team.
"We had the best golf team at state," Wood said. They all played really well ... I'm extremely proud of those guys."
Hagan's days of playing golf for schools may be over, but Wood said he has a bright future. He'll be attending South Plains College after high school with intentions of going to Texas Tech University after that.
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Samuel Sutton is a journalist covering West Texas. Send him a news tip at ssutton@gannett.com or call 325-812-7179. Consider supporting West Texas journalism with a subscription to GoSanAngelo.com.
https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/local/2019/05/24/hagan-halfmann-helps-garden-city-win-state-golf-tournament-after-serious-four-wheeling-accident-2019/1206166001/
2019-05-24 16:08:00Z
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