Discovery Canyon boys golf keeps rolling with win at Cheyenne Mountain Invite
COLORADO SPRINGS — Discovery Canyon’s Owen Pasvogel made birdie on the 16th hole at the Country Club of Colorado and appeared almost exasperated.
He just wanted to get to the clubhouse.
He would go on to par the 17th and birdie the 18th to finish 3-over-par 74. It was good enough for the win at Monday’s Cheyenne Mountain Invite. The Thunder also brought home the team win thanks to Pasvogel’s 74, as well as Luke Trujillo and Caleb Blackburn each coming in with a 76.
“Seeing the course and all the pins that everyone had to play, I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for anyone,” Pasvogel said. “Realistically, pars are good when I’m playing poor. So I just hit fairways and hit greens, just like last time.”
The last time that he was referring to was the Spartan Invitational at the Colorado Springs Country Club. At that tournament, Pasvogel brought home the individual win and Discovery Canyon won the team title as well.
It’s becoming a theme.
The tournament boasted a field that included the defending Class 4A state champion Valor Christian, as well as 5A programs from around Colorado Springs. It’s a field that Cheyenne Mountain coach John Carricato knows will help not just his team, but the other teams there better for when the postseason rolls around.
“The field is pretty competitive and you have the defending state champs here,” Carricato. “You have Discovery Canyon who is showing that they’re going to be formidable state champion contenders.”
And they’ve shown that very effectively early in the season. The Thunder is not paced just by one standout player with three supporting scores just getting tossed in.
On any given day, any one of the Discovery Canyon golfers can step up and help lead the team to a win.
“I think it’s know that we have four solid players and that if one guy has a bad day, we have him covered,” Blackburn said. “If one of us drops, we’re still going to have good scores that can contribute.”
But so far Pasvogel, he hasn’t dropped off too much. His birdie on the 18th combined with a bogey on the 17th for Rampart’s Steven Roschke (who started his round on the 18th) put them both in the clubhouse with a 74. But since Pasvogel shot a 35 on the back nine and Roschke shot 36, it was the Discovery Canyon senior who was declared the winner.
“I made a good bender, a 25-footer on 18 for birdie and that sparked my round,” Pasvogel said. “It got me in the clubhouse with a good score.”
With under a month until the state championship tournament Thunder coach Mark Liggett is pleased with what he’s seeing out of his players and know that they can push each other to be even better than they have been for the first few weeks of the season.
“(They’re) competing against each other and helping each other out,” Liggett said. “They know the game.”
If the Thunder golfers continue to compete and improve, they’ll certainly be a force for the rest of 2016 season.
