The Durango High School boys golf team hit the links on Monday and Tuesday at the Montrose Red Hawk and Grand Junction Tiger Invitational.
The two-day tournament was held at the Bridges Golf & Country Club Monday in Montrose and the Battlement Mesa Golf Club Tuesday in Parachute. Fourteen teams competed, including several from the Front Range, and DHS ended up placing 10th.
“It was a really good learning experience for our team, and the field was probably the toughest we’ll find all year,” said DHS head coach Kirk Rawles. “I think all of the guys came away knowing what they need to work on.”
Zach Griswold shot the team’s best round on Monday, a 79, while Eli Holden shot an 84, Owen Muraro shot an 86, and Bailey Burke finished with a 93.
At Battlement Mesa on Tuesday, Holden led DHS with an 83. Griswold shot an 85, Muraro finished with another 86 while Burke hit 93 again.
“Those are two of the toughest courses on the Western Slope, and none of our guys had played them, but it was a really good learning experience, and they all loved both courses and the challenges,” Rawles said.
As a team, DHS finished with a 503 score after the 36 holes. Cheyenne Mountain shot a 431 to win the tournament, which was just 2-over par, while Montrose and Riverdale Ridge tied for second at 450.
Four golfers also shot 3-under 140s in tournament, including Noah Richmond of Montrose, Thomas Herholtz of Cheyenne Mountain, Bradley Weinmaster of Riverdale Ridge and Sawyer Klein of Denver North.
Richmond had the highlight shot of the tournament, sinking a hole-in-one at Battlement Mesa.
The Demons, meanwhile, had several birdies in the tournament, but were unable to capitalize on a few of the eagle chances they created.
“We just never really got anything jump-started,” Rawles said.
The coach, however, said he was optimistic that if his players can make a few adjustments and knock down a couple more putts, the Demons can each lower their scores by seven to 10 strokes.
DHS will continue its intersquad competition with a qualifier on Friday and then begin match play next week. DHS will also compete in a pair of tournaments next week at the Pagosa Springs Golf Club on Wednesday and the Black Canyon golf course in Montrose on Thursday.
