FORT COLLINS — The last time Rock Canyon boys golf found itself in contention for the Class 5A state title, the Jaguars’ hopes were dashed when they fell just two strokes short.
A year later, on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at Collindale Golf Course, the Jaguars found redemption behind their leading man and individual overall champion, senior Charlie Tucker, who dominated through two rounds to win by six with a total score of 136, shooting 6-under-par for the tournament.
He achieved his greatest feat, and the last of his high school career, without a worry on his mind.
“I don’t really ever look at the leaderboard. I’m just trying to control what I can control, really,” Tucker said. “I would say it’s my ball striking, normally. Just my mental game today, I thought, was really good the last two days. I just had a good mindset, really, about it and putted well too. I thought I had a good chance. I just needed to do what I needed to do and just worry about that and not what anybody else was doing.”
Through 17 holes on Tuesday, Tucker didn’t know where he fell on the leaderboard, but started to catch on as he made the turn for one last hole when he saw much of the fairway lined by eager spectators.
They all wanted to witness the man who made everyone else battle for second all day.
“It was probably on 18 after I hit my tee shot and saw all the people and heard I had a decent lead,” he said. “It probably dawned on me then.”
His dominating performance propelled the Jaguars straight to the top, with the team carding 440 strokes through two rounds. They left the suspense to second place, which fell to Cherry Creek after a playoff with Cherokee Trail.
Behind Tucker, senior Mason Conrad sat alone at 24th (152 strokes), senior Nathan Kim trailed just behind with a tie for 25th (153) and senior Trey Kahrhoff rounded out the Jaguars’ efforts with a tie for 37th (156).
“They just all work for each other. They’re all trying to help each other, root for each other, just getting together to just help each other out,” head coach David Vahling said. “Great feeling to finally get ‘er done. We knew it was our best chance this year to do it because we had all these seniors. All these guys are graduating now.”
Co-head coaches Vahling and Ron Saul knew this group was special from the moment they stepped onto campus as freshmen, and were overjoyed to see them reach their crowning achievement in their final go. No Rock Canyon team ever had before.
“(Last year) left a bitter taste in their mouth and they came together as a team the last two weeks. They were really strong and they started playing their best golf just in the last week,” Saul said. “It was exciting to see the team come together. They really had a sense of calm. They weren’t nervous. They knew what they had to do and they did it.”
