Lutheran’s Brooks solves mountain golf on Day 1 of 3A boys state tournament

EAGLE – It was Nicholas Brooks’ albatross on No. 11 that really set the tone for the day.

Ok, it might not be a real albatross, but ask any resident around Eagle Ranch Golf Course and they’ll say that the par-3 11th is really the shortest par 5 on the course.

Missing right sends the ball into the hazard and missing left, while safer, certainly brings bogey and double bogey into play.

So Brooks, a slick swinging lefty who prefers to hit a cut, slung a draw into the back-right pin and knocked in his birdie putt. He finished the day with a 6-under-par 66 to take the Day 1 at the Class 3A state tournament, and it’s shots like off the tee at 11 that has a state championship within his grasp.

“I hit kind of a punch 8-iron into the breeze,” Brooks said. “It was 172 and I just drew it around the green to about eight feet and made the putt. I usually hit a cut, but recently I’ve been hitting a draw and just trying to play it.”

He made seven birdies on the day and had just one hiccup, a bogey on the par-4 13th. He was 3-under on the par 5’s and 2-under on the par 3’s. It’s a solid way to gain a Day 1 lead.

The Lions are also in the team lead as Crew Fitzgerald fired a 77, Gavin Pittman shot a 78 and Van Simmons finished with an 83. Only the top three scores count toward the team score, so getting one kid in the 60’s and two in the 70’s is also a good way to gain a lead.

But they aren’t solo at No. 1. Mullen is tied for the team thanks to Jackson Beldy’s team-best 69. John McMullan shot a 75 and Michael Fugate shot 77. Beyond Brooks and Beldy, Peak to Peak’s Jack Brayman and Eaton’s Dayne Schmidke shot 71, making it four players under par after the first day.

Holy Family’s Bobby Flaherty and Manitou Springs’ Hayden Dorsey bot finished with a 72. The other 78 players in the field are over par going into Day 2.

Brooks will lead a pride of Lions as they seek out their first team title since edging Holy Family by five shots at Eisenhower Golf Club at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

“No matter if we mistake, make a bogey or a bad shot, you just have to move on,” Brooks said. “We just have to focus on our next shot and take it one shot at a time.”

The second round of the 3A boys golf state tournament will get underway at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Eagle Ranch.

Even par getting the job done at Fox Hill

Sometimes par is good enough to win. Or least take a share of the Day 1 lead.

Three players got into the house at even-par at the 4A state tournament at Fox Hill Country Club. Air Academy’s Jack Moates, Northridge’s Everett Lewis and Grand Junction’s Hunter Simmons each shot 70 and will be in the final grouping on Tuesday’s second round.

Twenty-two players are within five shots heading into Day 2.

Broomfield has a five-shot lead for the team title thanks in big part to freshman Rev Bonniwell’s 72. Loveland is in second place and Mead is in third.

Defending state champion Cheyenne Mountain is in eighth place.

Banks Forging ahead at Elmwood

Those Pueblo municipal courses have a way of playing tricks with the psyche of the players strolling the fairways. Forge Christian freshman Joey Banks might have just the the right mix of talent blissful ignorance to get by unfazed.

He was the only player to dip into red numbers as he shot a 69 at Elmwood to take the Day 1 lead at the 2A tournament.

He made a bogey on No. 1 then rebounded with a birdie on 11 before making back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17. His bogey on 18 put him in the clubhouse at 1-under, one stroke ahead of Swink’s Noah Pearson.

Forge sits three strokes behind Frontier Academy in the race for the team championship. Defending state champion Golden View Classical Academy has ground to make up as it sits in 15th place.