Cathedral School freshman Chase Kaiser won the MAIS Class AAA individual boys golf state championship Tuesday at the Mississippi State University golf course in Starkville.

Kaiser shot a 75 on a par 71 to beat out a field of 54 players. He topped second-place finisher Moak Griffin from Heritage Academy with a score of 76.

“It’s really exciting. This feels pretty good,” Kaiser said.

With Tuesday’s round set with tee times beginning at 8 a.m., Kaiser and Cathedral coach Kurt Russ waited approximately two hours for all competitors to finish their round.

Griffin was tied with Kaiser going into the final hole, but came up short after shooting a bogey.

“We were pacing back and forth,” Russ said. “Winning by one shot is a big deal.”

Despite winning the round, Kaiser said he didn’t shoot his best. He was two over par through the first five holes.

“I struggled a lot on the first couple of holes. I couldn’t really get anything going,” he said. “I was really nervous.”

Kaiser said after the less than perfect beginning, he calmed down and focused on his golfing.

“I told myself not to panic because I had the rest of the round to golf,” he said.

Russ agreed he saw Kaiser struggle slightly, only hitting four fairways and one birdie on the round.

“He did not hit the ball off the tee as well as he can,” Russ said. “He putted and chipped extremely well, though. It’s hard to get the ball close to get birdie putts when you’re not on the fairways, but he got a lot of good looks that he just couldn’t get to go in.”

Along with the Cathedral girls golf team that claimed the state championship last week, Russ said he is extremely pleased with the overall effort of his athletes.

“It’s been an awesome golf year,” he said. “I am extremely proud of them. To see them reach their goals, it doesn’t get any better than that.”