Kyle Pritchard and Luke Tichi will represent Durango High School at the Class 4A state golf tournament on Monday and Tuesday at Raccoon Creek Golf Course in Littleton after the duo sneaked in with individual qualifying scores at the 4A Region 4 tournament.
Heading into the regional tournament last week at The Bridges Golf and Country Club in Montrose, Durango head coach Kirk Rawles said a score of 80 typically would qualify for state. Both Tichi and Prichard, who shot 81 and 83, respectively, said they were keeping close track of where their scores were at as they approached the final few holes of the round.
“Through the last three holes, I knew I needed to birdie one of the holes,” Pritchard said, “but I bogeyed then parred and bogeyed the last. It wasn’t what I wanted, and I didn’t expect to qualify at all.”
The final hole of the round came as a relief for Tichi, who started to unravel down the stretch.
“If it had been 20 holes, I probably wouldn’t have made it because I was falling apart,” Tichi said. “It was terrible. I was losing focus. Our group played the round in five and a half hours, so it was a slow round. I started out OK, but on the back nine it started to get a little shaky.”
The two golfers will enter their first state tournament at different points in their high school careers. Pritchard, a senior at DHS, will close out his golf career at Raccoon Creek while Tichi, a sophomore who does his schooling online, can bring the experience back to the golf team next season when he’ll be one of the team’s leaders.
Qualifying for state is a fantastic ending to Pritchard’s career. He missed last season after the growth plate in his right elbow dislodged during baseball season. He was out for several months unable to swing a club while his elbow healed from surgery.
“In the beginning, it was really hard and I was just playing for fun and not worrying about the score,” Pritchard said of coming back from the injury. “But now I’ve started to progress and coming back hasn’t been that hard. ... It’s actually supposed to be 110 percent, so it’s good, but it’s definitely uncomfortable at times and in the beginning I couldn’t swing. It killed me, but I think my elbow adjusted to it.”
Tichi had his sights set on a state tournament appearance all summer. He missed state and regionals last season and spent a lot of time working on his game, especially on the green, to be ready for this year.
The two golfers and Rawles have tough but obtainable goals for the two-day tournament.
Rawles said he’s looking for the two players to break 80 in both of their rounds. Pritchard said he’d be happy if he could break 80 both days, and Tichi said the number he’s looking to shoot is 77 despite not knowing much about the course.
“I’ve heard it’s kind of a simple course with nothing too crazy about it, and Hillcrest is kind of the same way,” Tichi said. “So I think I’ll be fine as long as I don’t spray it off the tee. If I’m in the fairway, I should be good.”
Something that might help Tichi and Pritchard reach their goal is they’ll basically have their own caddie on the course for both rounds, as Rawles will follow Tichi and assistant coach Sasha Creeden, who used to call Raccoon Creek her home course, will follow Pritchard.
“I think it’s going to be crazy for the round,” Pritchard said of having Creeden around for advice. “Just playing with people who know the course helps, but to have someone who can tell me every single shot and have it be someone I’ve known for a long time will be great.”
Tichi will follow Pritchard’s group during the first round on Monday. Pritchard will start the day on the back nine with Woodland Park’s Shane Purkey and Summit’s Tyler Horii teeing off at 10 a.m. Tichi will start on No. 10 at 10:09 a.m. with Greeley Central’s Drew Sedinger and Woodland Park’s Jace Cisneros.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
