AURORA — Fossil Ridge’s Dillon Stewart caught fire on the back nine to head in after day one of the Class 5A boys golf state tournament as the clubhouse leader with a two-under finish.
“It started off a little rough. I missed a couple short putts for birdie,” Stewart said. “I just had to ride through it and do what I needed to do. That was my goal, to be leader in the clubhouse after the first day. Then finish it out tomorrow with a good round.”
Birdies on 11 and 14 put Stewart on top of the leaderboard ahead of a crowded field.
“Today, I started off with no expectations,” Stewart said. “Just make a solid swing, one shot at a time. I tried to stay positive through bad mental errors. Try to look forward instead of looking back.”
Stewart is followed by Eaglecrest’s Davis Bryant, Regis Jesuit’s Calvin McCoy and Grand Junction’s Canon Olkowski, all at one-under.
Bryant, armed with experience in the U.S. Junior Amateur tournament, was 3-under, but bogies on 13 and 14 dropped him to one-under. Bryant came right back with a birdie on 15, then slid again with a bogey on 16.
“You have to grind it out. I left a few shots out there, but at the same time, nothing to hang my head about,” Bryant said. “You have to stay as warm as you can and battle the wind. Obviously you’re trying to hit the best shots you can, which isn’t easy with how many layers you have on at the same time. I’ve played in worse weather than this, so past experience definitely helped.”
Two straight pars sent Bryant into the clubhouse with a one-under-par 70.
“I’m going to go after it tomorrow like it’s just another round of golf, and play it one shot at a time,” Bryant said. “We’ll see what happens after 18 holes. I feel like I’m in a good position. I didn’t shoot myself out of it, I was able to grind it out and hang around.”
(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Bryant is in a good spot to make a run at the individual title tomorrow. He finished in second place in last year’s state tournament.
“Don’t think about what happens after tomorrow,” Bryant said. “Take it one shot at a time. Try and have a positive attitude on every shot, and keep my head up. Everyone is going to hit bad shots, but it’s how you bounce back.”
Olkowski was at plus-two with four holes to play. He hit three straight birdies to come in at one-under.
“I made a good put on six, and that got me going,” Olkowski said. “I made back to back to back birdies, and turned my game around. I finished really well.”
Regis Jesuit has a hold on the team race after day one at plus-four.
“I know we can play a lot better, but you can’t win it the first day,” McCoy said. “As long as we do what we need to do, we’ll be fine”
McCoy’s effort, and an even-par turned in by Cameron Kirke have the Raiders leading Cherry Creek (+8), Fossil Ridge (+9), ThunderRidge (+11), Fairview (+13) and Grand Junction (+13).
“You have to stay focused,” McCoy said. “When you think about it, it’s only 36 holes to determine who wins. If you get off focus for one shot, you could ruin your round.”
Roosevelt’s Tyler Severin. More photos. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
LITTLETON — Monday felt more like a typical day at the Open Championship than the first day of a boy’s state golf tournament in Colorado.
It was cold, wet and windy and as a result, the scores weren’t where any of the participating golfers would’ve liked them to be.
But it’s sure going to make for an interesting day on Tuesday. Roosevelt’s Tyler Severin made a par putt on 18 to go into the clubhouse tied for the lead with a one-over-par 73.
Thompson Valley’s Darren Edwards and Valor Christian’s Jake Welch also shot 73 to sit atop the Class 4A leaderboard.
“I was just really smart off the tee,” Severin said. “I was taking really good shots. I thought over every single shot with my coaches and we decided on aiming points. Usually down the stretch, guys don’t hit a lot of drivers, but I was hitting my driver really well.”
He never put himself in too much trouble and just played consistently through all 18 holes. He was two-over on the par-threes, one-under on the par-fours and even on the par-fives.
For the most part, Welch was having the best day of anyone at the tournament. He shot 34 on the front to head into the back nine at two-under. As he teed off on the 17th hole, he was sitting at one-under, but made a very costly mistake.
Jake Welch. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
His tee shot on the 226-yard par-three didn’t draw back and splashed in the water. He triple-bogged the hole.
“The wind was coming in from the right so we were just trying to (draw it),” Welch said. “I just didn’t catch it great and it went in the water.”
He rebounded with a birdie on 18 to go in as the leader in the clubhouse.
Edwards and Severin followed him in shortly after and the post-round interactions between Severin and Welch made it clear that the two — who are close friends — are going to enjoy playing together on the final day.
“We play summer golf together and have each other on Snapchat,” Severin said. “I think it’s going to be business oriented, but we like like to chirp at each other every now and then.”
Edwards was very consistent on his back nine. He made a double-bogey on his eighth hole (No. 17) but then rattled off nine straight pars before making birdie to end his round.
Going into Tuesday’s final round, those three will have a two-stroke edge over four players. Among them is last year’s champion, Discovery Canyon’s Luke Trujillo.
The defending champion (who recently committed to play golf at the Air Force Academy) took a double-bogey on 13 and followed it up with a bogey on 14.
Coming in as the defending champion would naturally come with some pressure, but having reached that pinnacle a year ago, Trujillo is going into Tuesday with a clear focus.
“I’m less nervous than last year,” Trujillo said. “Everyone wants to win twice, but I feel like who should have the most pressure, the person who’s already won or the person who wants to win? I’ve been thinking about for a couple months.”
Montrose ended the day with the team lead, shooting 17-over. Valor Christian is sitting just one stroke back while defending champion Discovery Canyon sits at 28-over.
LITTLETON and AURORA — The Class 4A and 5A boys golf state championships began with their first rounds on Monday. The start of the 3A tournament was delayed a day by poor weather.
Pueblo Central football snapped a 15-game losing streak on Saturday.
Nico Martin ran for three touchdowns as Pueblo Central beat Glenwood Springs 27-17.
The Wildcats grabbed a 21-7 lead in the second half, but the Demons were able to battle back and pull to within four points thanks to a 30-yard field goal.
But just as he had been the hero on offense all day, Martin shut down any hopes that Glenwood had of making a full comeback as he picked off a pass late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
And just like that our boys get their first W in 15 games…with plenty more on the way #OA ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/njnraBscy9
LAKEWOOD — Denver North football beat Alameda 44-6 on Friday to improve to 5-0 this season. The Vikings are now 5-0, marking just the third time since 1996 that the team has won five games in a season.
