The Durango High School boys golf team on Tuesday got to compete on the course where the Class 4A state championships will be held this season, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Bridges Golf and Country Club in Montrose.

“It’s a beautiful course: big greens, pretty wide fairways, lots of bunkers. A creek runs through it,” said DHS head coach Kirk Rawles. “It will definitely be a good test for the teams coming in for state.”

The Demons also got compete with the top-two ranked teams in the state, both Tuesday in Montrose and Monday at the Adobe Creek Golf Course in Fruita: No. 1 Grand Junction and No. 2 Montrose.

First competing at Adobe Creek, the Demons shot a 236 to finish third out of seven teams, one shot ahead of Fruita Monument and behind Grand Junction (218) and Montrose (220). Central Grand Junction (257), Meeker (260), Palisade (263), Cedaredge (298) and Eagle Valley (303) also competed.

Junior Owen Muraro and freshman Drew Jepson both shot 78s to land in a five-way tie for seventh. Sophomore Carter Hansen and senior Zachary Griswold both shot 80s for DHS while junior Ben Ogden carded an 87.

“That was a better indication of where we’re at,” Rawles said.

The coach said the Demons had a hard time adjusting to the faster, more undulated greens the following day at the Bridges. DHS finished seventh out of 11 teams in Montrose, with four scores counting instead of the usual three, with a 340 team score. Grand Junction won that tournament as well with a 284, followed by Erie (301), Montrose (307), Cheyenne Mountain (312), Pueblo West (315), Fruita (326), Durango, Central GJ (345), Montrose 2 (379), Palisade (411) and Frederick (427).

Muraro shot a 79 to lead DHS again, finishing 18th. Griswold shot an 85, Hansen an 87, Jepson an 88 and Ogden an 89.

“Owen played pretty well and broke 80 and Carter had a good nine, but it wasn’t our best outing,” Rawles said.

Grand Junction sophomore Hunter Simmons won the individual titles at both tournaments, carding a 70 at Adobe Creek and then lowering his score to a 68 at the Bridges.

“It’s good for us to see that; we don’t have to go far to see where we need to be,” Rawles said. “We’ll work on some things, find a few strokes here and there and see how close we can get to those teams.”

DHS will next compete on Thursday (Aug. 24) in Montrose again at Cobble Creek.