Two of the best local golfers made coaches think about a rare occurrence in regular-season high school golf: A playoff.
Drew Jepson, a sophomore stud from Bayfield who plays with Durango golf, and junior Jonathan Smith from Pagosa Springs have played a lot of golf together. Both of their talents were on display on Monday at Hillcrest Golf Club in the Durango Tournament.
Both Jepson and Smith finished -2-under par with a 69. Instead of settling for the tie, both coaches and players agreed to a sudden-death playoff starting on hole 7.
Jepson continued his stellar play and drove his ball into the fairway and had an easy pitch shot to put his ball about 10 feet away for birdie. Smith found some trouble off the tee and was in the rough. He then hit his second shot short of the green before chipping onto the green and had a tough par save ahead of him.
Smith’s putt wouldn’t matter as Jepson hit his putt perfectly on the slippery and fast green. The putt dropped and Jepson won the playoff hole with a birdie.
Before the playoff birdie, Jepson had 16 pars and two birdies in his 18 holes.
“I made every single putt inside 10 feet, every single putt,” Jepson said. “It was one of those days.”
Jepson said the part of his game that’s improved the most is his putting. He worked a lot on it over the summer and now feels confident over every putt. He thanked his parents for driving him everywhere he needed to be this summer.
While Jepson had to work on his putting, his driving and power has come naturally after a big growth spurt over the summer. He didn’t have to change anything in his swing after growing and putting on some more weight.
On Jepson’s two birdie holes, he showed off his power. He drove the green on the par 4, 363-yard eighth hole and two-putted for birdie. On the par 5, 542-yard 17th hole, Jepson got on the green in two shots and two-putted for birdie.
Last season, Jepson was very close to going to state as a freshman. This season, he’s really enjoyed playing with his team and not only wants to make it to state, but he wants to finish top 10 in 4A.
The finish at the top of the individual standings might’ve been a nail-biter, the team standings weren’t. Durango dominated. It was a smaller tournament with only five other schools playing. New Mexico’s boys golf teams haven’t started playing tournaments yet.
Therefore Durango boys golf head coach Kirk Rawles could play a lot of his players. The Demons had six teams competing and had over 30 of their 67 players playing on Monday.
The top Durango team finished first with a team score from the top three players of 216, +3 over par. The Durango 2 team finished second with a 239 and Montezuma Cortez finished third with a 249. Pagosa Springs and the Durango 4 team finished tied-fourth with a 254.
Jepson, senior Owen Muraro, junior Wyatt Lafferty, senior Ben Ogden and junior Nolan Pace made up the top Durango team.
Muraro finished third with an even-par 71. Muraro was even better last week at Montrose when he led the Demons with a -4-under par 68.
“There was a lot left out there,” Muraro said about his round on Monday. “I had six birdies and a stupid double. I doubled 10, I bounced my second shot off the cart path out of bounds. Six birdies are solid. I should be under par with six birdies.”
He said he wants to be more consistent while keeping the birdie train going. Muraro said his putting was the key to his success, especially on the front nine. He said he put himself in good positions and had about 10 birdie putts in his round.
Like Jepson, one of his best shots was driving the green on the eighth hole. Muraro also wants to make it to state with his team.
In fifth place was Durango junior Wyatt Lafferty with a 76. Senior Ben Ogden on the top Durango team and junior Alex Elias on the Durango 2 team both shot 77 to tie for sixth.
Ogden had a great round going with birdies on the par-3 fifth and the short par 4 sixth. His round then took a turn for the worst with three straight double bogeys on the back nine. He doubled the par 3 12th, the par 4 13th and the par 4 14th.
The senior said he knew mistakes like that were going to happen in the round and he needs to cut them out as soon as possible. He was ready to bounce back at the next tournament in Cortez on Tuesday.
Despite the mistakes, Ogden said he hit his driver well and hit every fairway on the front nine. He just couldn’t capitalize on his birdie looks.
His favorite shot was a 280-yard 3-wood he hit on 17 off a muddy lie. It went over the trees and landed on the front of the green.
“This is the best team I’ve been a part of and it’s not even close,” Ogden said. “There’s 10 people who can shoot in the 70s. As a freshman, shooting 45 on nine holes was varsity. It’s really cool to see. In the past, if I shot a 77, I’d be first or second on the team. Now I’m only fifth or sixth. The season is going to be really awesome to play.”
Elias’ 77 tied his best tournament round this year. He said it was a solid score and he can live with it. Elias’ focus is on playing good golf and not paying attention to anyone else.
He knows with the depth the Demons have, he can’t take a day off and he has to push himself every day.
The Durango golf team played a tournament on Tuesday in Cortez but results weren’t available when this article was published. After that, the Demons host another tournament, this time at Dalton Ranch Golf Club in Durango on Sept. 10. Rawles said that tournament should draw some New Mexico teams that will be in season by then.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
