It didn’t take long to see Durango High School boys golf senior Nolan Pace’s work in the summer pay off.
Pace started the season with a spectacular showing on Monday at Adobe Creek National Golf Course in Fruita. He won the Fruita Monument Wildcats Invitational by shooting a 5-under-par 67 and led the Demons to a second-place finish in the team standings.
“I’m really excited for Nolan,” Durango head coach Kirk Rawles said. “I mean, it's one thing to be under par, but five under par in a high school golf tournament, that's just a phenomenal score. To watch him, see his consistency and how well he played was really awesome. You just don't see that very often in a high school golf tournament.”
After going to state as a junior, Pace opened his 18 holes at Adobe Creek with a birdie on Hole 1 followed by a bogey on Hole 2. He started cooking with hot oil toward the end of his first nine, with birdies on six, seven and an eagle on the par 5 eighth. Pace finished his round with two birdies, six pars and a bogey on the back nine to finish 5-under-par.
Rawles said Pace has a mini driver that Pace uses to find the fairway. He did just that on Monday and that allowed him to access a lot of pins and leave himself with some good birdie looks.
The round could’ve been even better for Pace, but he missed a few makeable putts, according to Rawles.
Pace won the tournament by three strokes over Fruita Monument’s Collin Black in second place. Four players finished under par on a course that Rawles said was pretty flat with slow and grainy greens that the players needed to adjust to.
Durango’s next best finisher was junior Drew Jepson, who finished tied-seventh at 4-over-par. He finished his round with two birdies, 11 pars, four bogeys and a double bogey.
“With Drew, it's great because a bad day for him is two or three over par,” Rawles said. “In the qualifier last week, he shot a 67. So it's just nice to know that we have that much potential. If that ever happens on any given tournament, that's a great base for us to work from. But those two starting out and doing what they needed to do the first couple tournaments, it’s great.”
Pace and Jepson led the Demons to a second-place finish out of 15 teams. Durango’s top three golfers in its first team finished 9-over-par. Grand Junction won the tournament at 4-over-par and Fruita Monument finished third at 16-over-par.
The rest of the members of the top Durango team didn’t have their best day on Monday, according to Rawles. Senior Carter Hansen finished 22nd at 10-over-par, followed by senior Alex Elias at 14-over-par in 35th and Hayes Malone in 40th at 15-over-par.
Durango could bring a second team since it was a league tournament. The Demons’ second team finished tied-eighth at 32-over-par and was led by senior Nicolas Lucero’s 14th-place finish after shooting 8-over-par.
On Tuesday, the Demons traveled to Black Canyon Golf Course in Montrose to compete in the Montrose Red Hawk Tournament at Black Canyon.
Durango’s top team finished in second again, with a team score of 17-over-par. Grand Junction took another win at 12-over-par and Fruita finished third at 20-over-par.
Jepson bounced back and finished third at 1-over-par. He finished his round with four birdies, nine pars and five bogeys. Pace, Malone and Hansen each shot 8-over-par, although one of those player’s scores comes with caveat.
Pace likes to bring a lot of clubs to the driving range. Early in his round on Tuesday, Pace realized he had 15 clubs in his bag and the maximum is 14. He alerted Rawles and was assessed a four-stroke penalty. Therefore, Pace’s score could’ve been 4-over-par without the penalty.
Rawles was more impressed with Pace calling a penalty on himself than with the 67 he shot the day before.
Durango showed its depth again with its second team, as it finished sixth out of 17 teams at 26-over-par. Lucero impressed again, finishing seventh at 5-over-par. He finished with two birdies, 10 pars, five bogeys and a double bogey.
Lucero has started his senior year strong despite not seeing much tournament action last season.
“I would describe it (Lucero’s swing) as kind of unassuming,” Rawles said. “He just kind of stands up and hits the ball … He's a strong kid; you hear the sound of the ball when he hits it. It's a lot different than what other people do with a golf ball. But it was great, because he's getting smarter about playing and being a little more strategic instead of just hitting the ball and it's showing. I was so excited for him.”
Next up for the Demons is their lone home match, the Durango Hillcrest Open, at Hillcrest Golf Club on Monday at 11 a.m. Rawles said 15 teams from Colorado are coming to participate and he expects 20-25 Demons to compete.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
