The Durango High School boys golf team did not have its best day on the golf course at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A state golf tournament held at Flying Horse Golf Club in Colorado Springs, but head coach Kirk Rawles said that his team is still gunning for a top-5 finish on Tuesday.
“I think all things considered, we are feeling pretty optimistic,” Rawles said. “Outside of Ethan, I think the other two realize that they didn’t play their best and I think that we can get into the top five, so that was the goal coming here. That can be achievable and hopefully we can find some more strokes tomorrow and get there.”
Durango sits in seventh overall as a team at 27-over par, but is just four strokes back of fourth-place, which is currently held by Mullen at 23-over. Montrose leads at 5-over par.
Junior Ethan Whidden paced the Demons with a 4-over par 76, which was good for ninth overall. Whidden tied his season-low and Rawles said it could have been even better.
“Ethan had an exceptional round today,” Rawles said. “He tied his low round of the year and in reality, it could have been even lower than that. He played great for us today.”
After starting the round with a bogey on the first hole, Whidden was able to recover and saved par on five of nine holes on the front nine, and shot a 3-over 39. On the back nine, it was a similar story. Whidden made birdies on holes 10 and 15, but also bogeyed back-to-back Nos. 13 and 14 as well as hole No. 18, to finish with a 1-over par back nine. Whidden recorded just one double bogey on the afternoon and sits three strokes back of second place, currently held by Mac Konrad of Ponderosa and Jack Rotermund of Steamboat Springs at 1-over par.
While Whidden came away from Flying Horse relatively unscathed, the two freshmen, Anthony Flint and Levi Tichi, were not so lucky.
Flint shot a 10-over par 82, which leaves him in 31st overall. Rawles walked the course with Flint for most of the day and said that after a rocky middle few holes, he recovered nicely.
“Anthony had a tough middle stretch but otherwise played alright,” Rawles said. “He was 3-over par on his first six holes and his middle six, he was 6-over. He just kind of got on the bogey train there for a bit and then he got off on his last six, and was 1-over. So, I think he played pretty tight and his scoring average is an 81 and he shot an 82, which was a good showing for him in his first round at state.”
Flint made par on five consecutive holes on his front nine, from Nos. 4-8, before bogeying No. 9 to give him a 3-over par. He struggled on the back and made bogey on six of his final nine holes on the day to finish at seven-over par.
Levi Tichi had played stellar golf for almost the entire season, but the Demon’s No. 1 could not seem to catch a break on the first day, to finish at 13-over par 85, which was 47th overall. Tichi hit a stretch of three holes, Nos. 16-18, where he was 8-over par.
“Levi couldn’t really get it going,” Rawles said. “If you consider the rest of the 15 holes he shot a 6-over par, but it was that kind of course. There were a couple stretches of tricky holes and they kind of jumped up and bit him.”
Rawles said that due to Sunday’s late practice round time, the trio were unable to play 16-18, meaning the Demons went in blind.
“You just have to know where you’re going,” Rawles said. “We ran out of light yesterday and we tried to talk the guys through it and tell them, but you have to see it and play it first in order to play it right. Any one of the holes out there can cause you some problems.”
Rawles is still optimistic the Demons will be able to find their groove on Tuesday.
“We’ve got our sights set, and despite not having the best day, we are still in position to get a top five finish here,”Rawles said.
Tichi will start the Demons off for the final round Tuesday, when he tee off at 9:09 a.m. Flint will tee off at 9:18 a.m. while Whidden has the latest time for DHS and is in the third-to-last group, teeing off at 10:30 a.m.
