4A boys golf state tournament: Roosevelt’s Tyler Severin among Day 1 leaders
LITTLETON — Monday felt more like a typical day at the Open Championship than the first day of a boy’s state golf tournament in Colorado.
It was cold, wet and windy and as a result, the scores weren’t where any of the participating golfers would’ve liked them to be.
But it’s sure going to make for an interesting day on Tuesday. Roosevelt’s Tyler Severin made a par putt on 18 to go into the clubhouse tied for the lead with a one-over-par 73.
Thompson Valley’s Darren Edwards and Valor Christian’s Jake Welch also shot 73 to sit atop the Class 4A leaderboard.
“I was just really smart off the tee,” Severin said. “I was taking really good shots. I thought over every single shot with my coaches and we decided on aiming points. Usually down the stretch, guys don’t hit a lot of drivers, but I was hitting my driver really well.”
He never put himself in too much trouble and just played consistently through all 18 holes. He was two-over on the par-threes, one-under on the par-fours and even on the par-fives.
For the most part, Welch was having the best day of anyone at the tournament. He shot 34 on the front to head into the back nine at two-under. As he teed off on the 17th hole, he was sitting at one-under, but made a very costly mistake.
His tee shot on the 226-yard par-three didn’t draw back and splashed in the water. He triple-bogged the hole.
“The wind was coming in from the right so we were just trying to (draw it),” Welch said. “I just didn’t catch it great and it went in the water.”
He rebounded with a birdie on 18 to go in as the leader in the clubhouse.
Edwards and Severin followed him in shortly after and the post-round interactions between Severin and Welch made it clear that the two — who are close friends — are going to enjoy playing together on the final day.
“We play summer golf together and have each other on Snapchat,” Severin said. “I think it’s going to be business oriented, but we like like to chirp at each other every now and then.”
Edwards was very consistent on his back nine. He made a double-bogey on his eighth hole (No. 17) but then rattled off nine straight pars before making birdie to end his round.
Going into Tuesday’s final round, those three will have a two-stroke edge over four players. Among them is last year’s champion, Discovery Canyon’s Luke Trujillo.
The defending champion (who recently committed to play golf at the Air Force Academy) took a double-bogey on 13 and followed it up with a bogey on 14.
He said his swing wasn’t quite where he wanted it to be, but he has shown in the past that he is capable of making a run of birdies at the state tournament.
Coming in as the defending champion would naturally come with some pressure, but having reached that pinnacle a year ago, Trujillo is going into Tuesday with a clear focus.
“I’m less nervous than last year,” Trujillo said. “Everyone wants to win twice, but I feel like who should have the most pressure, the person who’s already won or the person who wants to win? I’ve been thinking about for a couple months.”
Montrose ended the day with the team lead, shooting 17-over. Valor Christian is sitting just one stroke back while defending champion Discovery Canyon sits at 28-over.
