In the 2016 Wyndham Cup, one of the most prestigious events on the junior golf circuit, rising high school seniors Davis Shore and Wilson Furr were two down in their alternate-shot match with just five holes to play.

On the fourteenth hole, a par 5, Shore’s tee shot found the fairway, Furr stuck an iron shot close to the hole and Shore converted the eagle putt. Furr, easily the more excitable of the two, pumped his fist and riled up the more even-keeled Shore.

“I kind of got him fired up,” Furr said. “I have no idea [what I said], but I can tell you I was fired up.”

That spark was all they needed, as they went birdie-birdie-eagle to win the next three holes and close out the match, their second victory in as many days. One of their opponents that day, Norman Xiong, is currently the fourth-ranked player in college golf.

Furr and Shore’s friendship dates back beyond that Wyndham Cup pairing. Now both Alabama freshmen, they first met at age 14 when they were grouped together for a tournament. From that point on, they crossed paths at 10 to 12 junior golf events per year, and quickly grew close.

The Wyndham Cup was the first time they had ever teamed up in competition. Two months later, their team captain at the Junior Ryder Cup paired them again and got the same result, as they defeated their European opponents by a healthy margin.

It might seem that the duo committed to Alabama hoping to reprise their success from junior golf at the collegiate level, but each chose the Crimson Tide independently of the other. They committed in December 2014, just a couple months after meeting for the first time.

They had gone on a recruiting visit together just two weeks prior, attending Alabama’s 55-44 win in the Iron Bowl. By that point, they both knew Tuscaloosa was the place for them.

“I kind of knew all along that this was where I wanted to go,” Furr said. “I’m just glad they put up with me.”

Alabama head coach Jay Seawell and his assistant coach, Jon Howell, had been keeping tabs on Shore and Furr for years. The talent was obvious as they were two of the top three recruits in the Class of 2017, according to Golfweek’s rankings, but Seawell and Howell were looking for more than that.

At the Rolex Tournament of Champions, a few weeks before the Wyndham Cup, Seawell watched Shore win his third American Junior Golf Association event, but was more impressed by the relationship that had formed among him, Furr and Ben Fuller, also now an Alabama freshman.

The three stayed in a house together during the tournament, which confirmed to Seawell that they would fit well into a team dynamic.

“The cool part was, the more we recruited them, the more we started seeing them connect,” Seawell said. “It was really cool to see how they gravitated to each other through the recruiting process.”

Now the three are roommates who often spend their free time playing the video game Fortnite, although Shore usually ends up admiring the more adept skills of Fuller and Furr.

Seawell described Furr and Shore as “polar opposites,” highlighting the contrast between Furr’s intensity and enthusiasm and Shore’s consistency and meticulous attention to detail. But despite their stark differences, each is making immediate contributions to the team and is also helping lay the foundation for the future.

“People will tend to follow [your good players],” Seawell said. “It’s funny how those things Lego’ed together and meshed in their friendship … but those are also the things that give us a good glue here [on the team] too.”

That was never more evident than this fall, when Furr started missing shots to the right and lost his confidence. Amid all that, Shore kept reminding him how good a player he was and maintained that Furr fixing his swing was a matter of when, not if.

While Furr sorted those issues out, Shore hit the ground running, starting all four tournaments in the fall semester. Furr said it wasn’t hard to watch the team from the sideline as it reached the No. 1 ranking because he always pulled for his teammates regardless of the circumstances.

Shore said he probably wouldn’t have had as much early success, which included a ninth-place finish in just his third college tournament, without the familiar faces of Furr and Fuller there to support him.

“If it had just been me and I didn’t know anybody, it would’ve been a much tougher transition,” Shore said. “But since I already knew them, if we ever need anything, we’re there for each other. It’s helped a lot.”