Durango and Grand Junction just couldn’t get enough golf Monday and Tuesday.
For the second consecutive day, Durango High School and the Grand Junction Tigers sat in a tie atop the team leaderboard after their top three individual scores were totaled. On Monday, the two boys golf teams were tied at 19-over-par 232 at Hillcrest Golf Club. The course was different Tuesday, as the teams played Dalton Ranch Golf Club, but the scores were similar, as they shot 21-over 237 in the second leg of the Durango Invitational.
It was the DHS Demons who claimed a sudden-death playoff victory Monday, as Cameron Barnhardt, Cory Gillespie, Cy Spicer and Eric Walker all came through with pars as the sun set over Durango.
Grand Junction earned revenge Tuesday, as the Tigers won by one stroke in the one-hole playoff on the 315-yard par-4 10th.
“That was a lot of fun, and it was exciting. It is great for these kids,” DHS head coach Kirk Rawles said of the playoff. “This was a close playoff, and it was better than (Monday), because it wasn’t dark, and we had more of a gallery.
“It was another building block to build a lot of character for these kids. As much as you would like to win, you love to watch an exciting playoff like that.”
Spicer and Walker each made bogey, and Grand Junction’s Ben Volkmann and Richard Wise both two-putted for easy pars to give the Tigers a two-shot lead with one more foursome to play.
Barnhardt and Gillespie both found the fairway, but Grand Junction’s Trevor Olkowski topped his tee box shot and saw it roll 25 yards in front of him. Olkowski tried to rip a 3-wood up to the green to make up for the blunder, but he hooked it into the tall rough left of the green.
Olkowski had to take an unplayable lie penalty, and his blind pitch shot toward the green came up short. Still, Olkowski found a way to make double bogey with a good pitch and tap-in putt.
Tigers teammate Donny Kinnaman hit a perfect pitch shot after his approach shot went long of the green, and an easy tap-in par gave Olkowski a par.
Barnhardt hit the green with his approach but had to settle for a two-putt par, and a 2-foot par putt for Gillespie lipped out and forced him to settle for bogey, giving the Tigers a one-shot win in the playoff.
Putting was a problem for most of the DHS team all day. Barnhardt hit the ball exceptionally well most of the round, but a short birdie putt lipped out on the par-5 13th after he hit a hybrid 225 yards from the rough to the front of the green for a look at eagle.
Barnahrdt finished at 8-over 80.
“I just couldn’t putt,” said Barnhardt, who lives with his parents Beth and Bob Barnahrdt at Dalton Ranch. “I had a lot of lip-outs. The ball would be 10 feet or less, and I would miss it every time.”
Spicer shot the Demons’ low round of the day with a 6-over 78. He had a strong back nine, fueled by birdies on 10 and 13.
“I was able to convert some putts (Tuesday) that I didn’t at Hillcrest (on Monday). I got a few shots back on the back nine after playing poorly in the beginning,” Spicer said.
Gillespie finished his round with a 79, and he was thrilled to break 80 in the tough wet-weather conditions Tuesday. Birdies on 13 and 15 helped his cause.
“The back-nine here always plays a little easier. There is more room to miss off the tee, and that really helps,” Gillespie said.
Walker finished the day with an 11-over 83, and the DHS varsity team was rounded out by senior Daniel McElwain’s 87.
The medalist was Fruita Monument’s Troy Dangler, who shot an even-par 72 to win by five strokes in front of Olkowski.
The most surprising round of the day came from a DHS junior varsity player, as Kobe Szura finished at 10-over 82.
The Demons will play again next Monday and Tuesday at Hillcrest Golf Club, as they host the regional tournament. The defending champions will relish the opportunity to practice on their home course all week before trying to defend last year’s title.
“We will take what we did this week and fine-tune some things, whether that is putting or whether it is approach shots or whatever it might be,” Rawles said. “We will do whatever we can to shave a couple more strokes off for next week.
“If you would’ve told us we would win a playoff one day and lose to Grand Junction in a playoff the next day in the two tournaments before regionals, we would take that going in every time.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
Playing in the rain
Dalton Ranch Golf Club received only 0.1 inches of rain Monday night, which helped keep the course playable, as 98 golfers participated in the second leg of the Durango Invitational on Tuesday.
Players all entered Tuesday’s round expecting heavy rain, but the weather stayed mostly dry on a cloudy early morning, as the players went off on a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
But the weather didn’t hold up for long, as rain dumped on players on the back nine, and gusty winds made matters that much more difficult.
“The conditions made it probably one of the hardest times I’ve ever played golf,” said DHS junior Cory Gillespie, who shot a 7-over-par 79 on Tuesday. “It was windy, raining and cold. I’m pretty happy about keeping it in the 70s in these conditions.”
Gillespie said he wore two jackets, rain pants and carried an umbrella with him for most of the final nine holes.
Cy Spicer, who shot a team-low 78 on Tuesday, never uses a golf glove, and he said the rain didn’t do much to effect his grip on his clubs.
“I was really prepared for it to rain early in the day, and then it wasn’t raining. Then I got used to it not raining, and it started to rain. I was in the opposite mindset all day,” Spicer said. “The feel of the golf club is pretty simple to me, and I didn’t lose any clubs with wet grips. I actually felt pretty solid.”
DHS head coach Kirk Rawles was just happy to get two rounds of golf in Monday and Tuesday with as much rain as was forecasted. He said battling weather always becomes an issue during the Durango Invitational.
“We got it in!” Rawles exclaimed when the final putt dropped Tuesday afternoon.
Little did Rawles know a team playoff was still to come, but the weather cleared, and the sun broke through the clouds for the thrilling conclusion.
After Durango beat Grand Junction in a playoff Monday at Hillcrest Golf Club, the Tigers got the better of the Demons on Tuesday at Dalton Ranch Golf Club.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
