Wading through the tall grass at Rio Grande Golf Club in South Fork on Thursday, Blake Keetch found his golf ball sitting in a tree.
The ball was deemed unplayable, forcing the Montezuma-Cortez freshman to tack on a penalty stroke. And although Keetch was frustrated early in the weather-shortened nine-hole tournament, he rallied to hit consecutive birdies on later holes to finish with a score of 45, good for fifth place.
“That was a tough course for the kids,” head coach Micah Rudosky said when explaining the situation. “It’s a very narrow golf course along the river. But it’s just a really nice one so they got a treat really to be able to go up there and play that.”
Playing against Alamosa, Monte Vista and Pagosa Springs in what was called the Intermountain League Conference Championship, the Panthers had two top-five finishers.
Keetch finished fifth, and junior Cristoffer Rudosky shot a 42 to tie for third, finishing fourth after a playoff.
With Luke Gross shooting a 54, Jens Jorgensen a 56 and Forrest Gomez finishing at 57, the Panthers finished in third place as a team, just one stroke behind second-place Pagosa Springs and 10 behind Alamosa, which won the meet.
The IML Championship was the Panthers’ fourth league meet of the season after previous stops in Alamosa, Pagosa Springs and their home meet at Conquistador Golf Course. They will travel to Redlands Mesa Golf Course in Fruita on Tuesday before competing in their final league meet of the season at Monte Vista on Friday.
The all-conference nominations are decided by players’ top three finishes in league meets, and Rudosky thinks the Panthers have a good shot to land two players on the IML’s first team.
“I think Blake and Cristoffer will be first team all-conference for the Intermountain League,” he said. “We’re in a good standing right now for us to do that with one final match coming up.”