The high school golf season goes by fast in the state of Colorado. Lasting just over nine weeks, athletes and coaches have to enter the competition season ready to perform and chase after state qualifiers.
Over the past several weeks, the Summit High School golf team has showcased its preparation, earning multiple top-10 individual finishes and strong team placements at tournaments. The Tigers even captured the team title at their home competition last week on Thursday, Sept. 11, at the Keystone Ranch Golf Course.
Wanting to keep the momentum going, Summit played its first tournament of the fresh week at The Bridges Golf and Country Club in Montrose on Monday, Sept. 15. Even though Summit was riding high from its impressive performance at its home tournament, the team struggled at times in Montrose.
Out of the five golfers who competed for Summit’s top varsity team on Monday, only senior Hogan Tobias was able to get under 80 strokes. Tobias led the results for his team, shooting a 75. The score was enough for the senior linksman to tie for seventh place overall.
Tobias was followed in the results by senior Ryan Lankhorst, who tied for 22nd place with a score of 82. Summit’s final scoring golfer was senior Jacob Knight. After playing exceptionally well last week at the home tournament, Knight shot an 85 to tie for 30th overall.
Tobias, Lankhorst and Knight combined for a total score of 242. The score was enough for the team to take sixth overall at the tournament, getting beat out by Fruita Monument in fifth by three strokes (239).
“While we struggled to score, the boys played well on a new, unfamiliar course,” head coach Zach Dobrota said. “The weather was great, the course was in challenging conditions to say the least.”
Summit’s final two golfers in Montrose were junior Parker Gray and senior Colton Jones. The two athletes finished within a stroke off one another, but were separated by seven places. Gray finished tied for 47th after shooting an 88 and Jones tied for 54th with a score of 89.
Summit did not have long to process the Montrose tournament as the next day on Tuesday, Sept. 16, the team traveled to Haymaker Golf Course in Steamboat Springs. The Tigers were able to start the tournament, but were not able to finish due to weather.
Summit got its chance to complete a full round of golf at the Fox Hill Invitational by Niwot on Wednesday, Sept. 17. Serving as a preview of the 4A state competition from Oct. 5-7, the Tigers took to the sprawling course at The Fox Hill Club in Longmont and tried to tame its challenging greens.
Feeling like the team fell short of its potential in Montrose, Summit played spectacularly on Wednesday. Not only was the team able to get a feel for this year’s state tournament course, but the Tigers also proved that they are a respectable team in the 4A classification.
After ranking fourth on the team earlier in the week, Gray was the top golfer for the team in Longmont. Gray secured a top-10 finish, taking sixth overall by shooting a 73. Gray was followed by Tobias who tied for 17th place with a score of 75. The Tigers’ final scoring golfer was Lankhorst who shot an 81 and tied for 40th overall. Jones recorded 88 strokes and tied for 86th.
With a total of 229 strokes, Summit tied for fourth overall out of 31 teams in Longmont. The Tigers only finished six strokes behind the winner of the tournament — Grand Junction.
“The boys are really starting to play strong golf as we wind down the season,” Dobrota said. “With only a couple of opportunities between (Thursday) and next Friday to lock in their state berths, I love where we are, and love what I am seeing. … Watching them make better decisions and knowing when to take their medicine when needed has really helped overall, and I hope to see that transition into October when the postseason kicks off.”
Summit will compete in one final tournament next Friday, Sept. 26, before turning its focus to postseason play.
