Durango High School rebounded from an uncharacteristic day on the golf course Monday. Elite play reemerged Tuesday.
The Demons finished in second place with a team score of 235 on Tuesday at Tiara Rado Golf Course in Grand Junction. Mighty Montrose was the only team better with a 225 to take yet another tournament title during a season in which the Indians will look to win a fourth consecutive CHSAA Class 4A state championship.
Durango was two shots better than Vail Mountain and three ahead of Fruita Monument in a tight team race at the Central Warriors Invitational. Grand Junction finished fifth at 240. It was the biggest tournament of the year for DHS, with 18 teams in the field.
Durango’s Anthony Flint tied with Montrose’s Jordan Jennings for the best round of the day. Each shot 1-over-par 72.
Flint got it done with 15 pars, two bogeys and a birdie on the par-3 No. 8. Jennings had four bogeys on the card but made up for it with three birdies, including on No. 18, a very short 290-yard par-4. On a scorecard playoff, Jennings’ score on No. 18 gave him the individual tiebreaker against Flint for first place.
“I left myself in a lot of spots to where I could still chip up and make some putts,” Flint said of his round. “I made just about every putt inside of eight feet. Those were momentum savers for par that kept me going, especially on the back-nine.”
Carson Kerr of Grand Junction shot a 73 to place third, while Josh Stouder of Fruita Monument was fourth with a 74.
Durango’s Levi Tichi bounced back from the worst round of his season Monday with a 5-over 76 on Tuesday. That put him in a tie for fifth with Montrose’s Noah Richmond. Tichi dealt with two double bogeys and three more bogeys but was able to gain a few strokes back with three birdies. It was the front-nine that cost him, as he shot just 1 over on the back.
“Levi did that with two four putts and two three putts,” DHS head coach Kirk Rawles said. “One of the biggest things in high school golf is to adjust to different greens that you run into. He played pretty well otherwise.”
Also for Durango, Jacob Genualdi shot an 87 to finish in a three-way tie for 36th. Cole Ulrich shot a 96 to tie for 54th. Luke Carlson placed 80th with a 104.
“Without that 87 from Jake, we could have slipped to fifth,” Rawles said. “Give credit to him for another round in the 80s. If he doesn’t hang in there for a couple of those shots, we don’t get second today. If he can shoot around 85, he gives us a chance.”
It was a much-improved day for Durango, which had finished in seventh place with a 251 a day earlier at the Grand Junction High School Invitational at Bookcliff Country Club.
“It was great,” Flint said. “(Monday), everything was a little tough. Today, we came out blind. We didn’t get a warmup because of some deal with the driving range, so we went to the first tee and just played. I felt like it was a more stress-free round for everybody today.”
Monday proved to be a more difficult test for the DHS boys golf team in Grand Junction. While Jennings and Aspen’s Nic Pevny finished at 1-under 70 at the top of the leaderboard, it was a day of big numbers for the Demons.
Flint led the Demons in eighth place with a 7-over 78. He had one birdie on the 346-yard ninth, a par-4. He had six bogeys and one double. He was the lone Demon to break 80 in the round, as Tichi shot a 15-over 86 to tie for 28th.
Tichi started his day with a quadruple bogey and was never able to recover. It was one of two quadruple bogeys on his scorecard, and both came on par-5s. His lone birdie came on No. 14, a 536-yard par-5.
“It was just a bad day for Levi,” Rawles said. “it’s hard to drive four hours, get out of the car and go play. He just hit a couple of bad shots at the wrong time.”
Carlson would tie for 32nd with an 87, while Genualdi was in a tie for 36th with an 88. Ulrich shot 102 to tie for 65th.
“That 87 for Luke was really good for him. We were really happy to see that,” Rawles said.
Montrose won the tournament with a 227, while Basalt played exceptional to shoot a 230 and finish second. Aspen was third with a 237. Durango’s 251 was its worst score of the season.
The Durango junior varsity squad will play the Pagosa Springs tournament Wednesday, while the DHS varsity boys will be off until Sept. 14-15 for a pair of home tournaments at Hillcrest Golf Club and Dalton Ranch Golf Club, respectively. Those are the final two tournaments before regionals Sept. 21 in Pueblo.
“It’s nice to play so many tournaments early in the season and get in a rhythm before school kind of starts,” Flint said. “Now, we have a couple of weeks to fine tune some things before our home tournaments. It will be nice to play familiar courses before regionals and state.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
