Lutheran boys golf captures individual, team titles at 3A state tournament

EAGLE – The chattering dreams of two caddies at Colorado Golf Club could have come off as wild fantasies. If members heard Nicholas Brooks and Crew Fitzgerald banter about lifting trophies and donning medals, they could very easily just tell them to dream big.

The thing is, the boys weren’t dreaming. The boys were planning.

In between loops at CGC, the best friends and Lutheran teammates could be found on the range. Whether it’s trying to gain distance or narrow the misses, hoisting a state championship became a matter of when, not if.

The when came on a crisp fall day at Eagle Ranch Golf Club. Brooks had jumped out to a big lead after firing a Day 1 6-under-par 66. He backed it up with a 68 on Tuesday to win the individual state title. Fitzgerald finished the tournament 3-over while Van Simmons was 16-over to give the Lions the Class 3A team title.

“It’s surreal,” Fitzgerald said.

Mainly because what the boys had talked about in the early morning hours on the driving range had come to fruition.

“We’d get there at 4 a.m. and just practice until 7:30, before the course even opens” Fitzgerald said. “We’d get our loops and go caddy for five hours for the members then afterwards we’d practice until 8 and then have a sleep over. We’d leave our phones at home so our parents couldn’t see our location.”

When the time came to cash in on the hard work, Brooks wasted no time in darting out to a big lead. If it wasn’t insurmountable after 18 holes, it probably was after Brooks’ first four holes of the second round.

After making par on 1, he made three birdies in a row then added another on No. 7. After making another birdie on 12, he could’ve gone into cruise control, but he put himself into a mindset where he was all gas, no breaks.

“It gets me into a groove,” Brooks said. “It helps me not think about my score and stick to my game plan. I’m not trying to catch anyone or defend my lead.”

And it gives him the freedom to go for some big shots. He went for the green on the short par-4 14th. He missed the green to the right, but clearing the bunker. He thought he caught his pitch shot a little too strong, but when things were going his way, they were going his way.

“I thought I was going to have 10 feet for birdie,” he said. “It landed on the very front of the fringe, took a hop, hit a rock mid-roll and just went in.”

An eagle at Eagle Ranch that the gallery erupted for.

He didn’t dare look at the scores until he got to the No. 18 tee box. What he saw was that he’d have to put up a 13 or 14 on the hole to lose his lead.

With the way he was playing over two days, no shot such a big number was coming into play.

“He knows how to navigate this golf course,” coach Caine Fitzgerald said. “It’s tailor-made for him.”

An errant approach shot led to a bogey, but even with a tap-in putt, it was an exclamation point on dream several years in the making.

Brooks, Fitzgerald and the rest of the Lions never wavered on if. They only had to wonder when.