Boys golf roundup: Teammates on top of each state tournament after Day 1
Fort Collins senior Hunter Paugh fired a first-round 67 to seize the lead at the Class 5A boys golf state tournament on Monday.
Paugh had five birdies in his round, and just one bogey. He was sitting a 1-under heading into the final three holes of his round, and birdied all three to finish at 4-under.
Paugh finished third at last year’s 5A state tournament.
His Fort Collins teammate, AJ Ott, is one of four players tied in second at even par after the first day. The others: Lakewood’s Griffin Barela, Regis Jesuit’s Andrew McCormick and Mountain Vista’s Austin Hardman.
Lakewood and Regis Jesuit are tied for the team lead after the first day. Both are 6-over. Fossil Ridge is third at 8-over. Coronado, the defending champion, is fourth at 10-over, and Mountain Vista sits at 13-over.
Find complete 5A results, as well as Day 2 tee times, here.
4A: Valor Christian on pace for repeat title
No school had a better first day of the state golf tournament than Valor Christian.
The Eagles finished with four players in the top eight of the entire field. The team championship is only determined by three of the four scores for each team member.
Philip Lee (69), Tim Amundson (71), Coby Welch (73) and David Leede (75) have the Eagles sitting at 3-under par for the tournament, 18 strokes better than Evergreen, which sits in second place.
With all three teammates within six strokes of each other, they have a chance to wrap up a team title and each vie for the individual championship as well.
The Eagles shot 8-under as a team last year at Walking Stick in Pueblo to win the team championship.
Full results, and Day 2 tee times, for the 4A tournament are here.
3A: Peak to Peak teammates to battle for individual title
Friday is going to be quite a day for Peak to Peak teammates Nishant Datta and Sam Taylor.
The Pumas hold a 10-stroke lead over Kent Denver in the race for the 3A team golf title, so Datta and Taylor will spend the bulk of their time trying to figure out which one can add an individual championship to their trophy case.
They both shot an even round of 72, putting each of them at par going into Tuesday’s final round of the tournament. And they both got there the same way. They were sitting at 2-under par going into the 18th hole, only to make double-bogey to bring them back to even.
“It’s unfortunate that a lot of teammates had to finish with the same tragedy on the last hole,” Taylor said. “I’m really proud of my team that we were able to step up today and get some things going.”
As a team, the Pumas lead the field at at six-over, which is 10 strokes better than Kent Denver. Defending team champion Sterling is currently tied for 11th place at 44-over.
Defending individual champion, Yale Kim (Dawson School) is in 13th place in the individual standings. He sank a birdie putt on 18 to finish with a 7-over 79 on the day.
Full results, and Day 2 tee times, from the 3A tournament are available here.
