The Durango girls golf team continued its strong start to the season with a win at the Devils Thumb Invitational in Delta on Monday. The Demons have won their first two tournaments of the season.
“It was great because it was kind of the tail end of spring break; we went up on Sunday, the last day of their spring break, and played on Monday,” Durango girls golf head coach Kirk Rawles said. “We didn't practice the whole week before, although some of the girls played wherever they might have gone on spring break. So it was just a really great outing for everybody.”
Durango finished first out of 15 teams with a score of 266, or +40 over par. Team scores were calculated by combining the 18-hole scores of each team’s top three golfers.
Fruita Monument wasn’t too far behind Durango in second with a team score of +44 over par. Montrose was third at +69 over par.
Despite the Demons not having much practice time so far and it only being their second tournament, Rawles wasn’t surprised with how well the team did. He knew he had a strong team with Durango’s state tournament golfers returning from last year. Still, Rawles said it was a good sign that Durango didn’t even have all of its top golfers (some were still away on spring break) and it still won.
Another good sign is the Durango girls team hadn’t competed or played there before. Devils Thumb gets a lot of wind since it sits on a mesa above Delta. There’s a lot of elevation change and a lot of walking. Rawles said the rounds took seven hours with all the walking and some girls walked about six miles.
The greens at Devils Thumb were slow but more consistent than at Durango’s previous tournament at Chipeta Golf Course in Grand Junction, according to Rawles.
Durango junior Jayden Craig and senior Ellie White finished tied third, finishing with an 81, or +9 over par. Makena Thayer from Battle Mountain won the tournament with a 78 and Addison Larson finished second with a 79.
Although none of the Demons have had a lot of practice time, White especially hasn’t after coming off a deep run into the state playoffs with the Durango girls basketball team. Her round was highlighted by four birdies.
“She is a really good athlete,” Rawles said about White. “Just to come off basketball and then hop right into golf; she's working hard now … she is also signed to play (golf) at Fort Lewis next year. So there'll be a lot of focus and attention on where she's at. There’s been a few just hiccups here and there, with some little chipping and putting and it was a brand-new course. So just trying to figure out, ‘hey, where do I hit this,’ sort of thing. So shooting an 81 there was awesome.”
Durango sophomore Dylan Livingston was the final scorer for the Demons, finishing in 11th at +22 over par. Junior Riley Harms shot her personal best round of 98, or +26 over par and finished tied 14th.
The Demons travel to Farmington on Monday to compete in the 2025 4A State Preview at Piñon Hills Golf Course. The state championship in New Mexico will be held there so Rawles expects some good competition as teams try and get some experience on the course.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
