Eastlake senior golfer Gabe Lysen was in the zone on the golf course Sept. 30 at The Golf Club at Newcastle in Bellevue.

Lysen, who is the Wolves’ team captain, set a school record shooting a 30 in nine holes against the Newport Knights. Lysen sank a difficult 20-foot shot on the ninth hole for birdie, clinching the school record.

“I was dialed in that day,” Lysen said. “Everything felt perfect. I just stayed in the moment. I visualized everything and was hitting the shots the way I wanted. I was making every putt.”

Lysen hit a rough patch when he came up with an unfortunate bogey on the sixth hole, but responded with three consecutive birdies in the final three holes in a historic performance for Eastlake High School. He finished the nine holes with five birdies, one eagle, two pars and a bogey. Lysen said he followed the unwritten rules of golf etiquette after sinking the final putt on the ninth hole.

“Everyone was watching and they all went nuts. I was really pumped, but I didn’t scream. I did a small fist pump and just picked my ball out of the hole,” he said.

Lysen’s journey to the role of team captain is a winding road courtesy of humble beginnings. In the summer of 2012 he tried out for the Eastlake golf team but was cut from the squad. A mere 36 months later Lysen is not only the Wolves team captain, but has already committed to the NCAA Division-1 Utah Valley University golf team.

“Once I got cut that really made me motivated. I knew I could do so much better. I knew I didn’t want to just be the No. 8 golfer on the team, I wanted to be the No. 1 golfer and the captain. I wanted to be able to lead this team,” he said. “I worked my butt over the last three summers to get to where I wanted to be.”

Lysen said he was at the golf course six days a week over the summer.

“I would usually practice, play 18 (holes) and then practice some more. There were some days where I was there from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at night,” Lysen said. “I averaged five hours a day, six days a week of golf.”

Lysen, who has a dream of one day becoming a pilot, was attracted to Utah Valley for its golf team and aviation program.

“They are a Division-1 team in the WAC (Western Athletic Conference). I went down there for a visit and I could tell it was a great fit,” he said.

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@issaquahreporter.com