It’s hard to imagine the two girls state high school tournaments turning out much differently.
In the 4A meet at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs, Jefferson Academy junior Jennifer Kupcho posted one of the biggest — if not the biggest — victory margins in the history of the girls state tournaments: 14 strokes.
“I felt someone would be up there with me, but that didn’t happen,” said Kupcho, the 2013 CWGA Junior Player of the Year who has already committed to Wake Forest.
In the 5A meet at Raccoon Creek Golf Course in Littleton, Rock Canyon senior Michelle Romano (pictured above getting hugged) prevailed in a playoff at an event in which four other players finished within a shot of the winning total, including runner-up Hannah Wood of Arapahoe.
While Kupcho (pictured at left), who competed in four USGA championships last year, was certainly the pre-tournament favorite in 4A, Romano received far less attention competing against the likes of Wood, defending champion Calli Ringsby of Cherry Creek and Sydney Merchant of Dakota Ridge.
“I would definitely call myself an underdog,” Romano said after the biggest win of her career. “… I already know where I’m going to school (and playing golf, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs). I didn’t have much relying on this except it really is just a self-accomplishment. I started playing golf my freshman year of high school. I never would have thought I would have been here today. It hasn’t exactly sunk in. Winning this tournament means I put in as much effort as I could and it paid off.”
Romano, sister of 2012 CGA Junior Match Play champion Andrew Romano, won the 5A Northern Regional tournament leading up to state, and also captured two or three other titles during the high school season.
But she had to overcome a bogey-bogey-bogey finish to post the victory. Wood, the University of Oklahoma-bound senior, birdied the final hole of regulation from 4 feet to tie Romano. And when Jaylee Tait of Columbine, playing at her home course, also struggled down the stretch, going 5 over par in the last four holes, Romano and Wood were headed to a playoff.
Tait (pictured at left in pink) could have won the tournament outright with a par on No. 18, or joined the playoff with a bogey. But she closed with a double bogey — hitting into a greenside bunker and three-putting — to share third place with Merchant and Anna Kennedy of Legend.
“I’m just disappointed because it feels like someone didn’t beat me; I beat myself, I guess,” said Tait, whose sister Ashley won three 4A state titles.
In the playoff, both golfers hit the green in regulation on the par-4 first hole. But Wood left her 25-foot birdie putt 4 feet short. And after Romano’s 15-foot birdie attempt finished 2 feet from the cup, Wood lipped out her par try (pictured at left). Then Romano converted her par putt for the victory.
“It’s disappointing,” said Wood, winner of the last two CJGA Tournament of Champions. “I had been three-putting all day. I considered the greens to be faster than they were and I knew the hail (from during a weather delay) had some effects on the greens.
“It’s pretty disappointing because I really wanted to do this for Arapahoe considering what we went through as a school” with the December shooting and killing of Claire Davis by a fellow student.
Wood finished her high school career with four top-10 finishes at state, going 10th, third, third and second.
Romano closed with a 3-over-par 75 on Tuesday to post a 9-over 153 total. But after making a 15-foot birdie on No. 15 and being tied for the lead with Tait, she missed a 6-foot par putt on 16. Then after putting her tee shot 30 feet from the pin on No. 17, play was delayed for more than an hour by lightning and large marble-sized hail (pictured below).
When play resumed, Romano three-putted for bogey and then popped up a drive about 100 yards on No. 18 en route to another bogey.
“I didn’t know I was tied for first (at the time of the weather delay) — and I didn’t want to know either,” Romano said. “I think the weather delay definitely affected my mojo and how I was handling myself. Then I three-putted that hole, and all the nerves set in. Then I skied a drive (on 18) and thought I was completely done.”
But Romano gathered herself to prevail in the playoff with that 2-foot par.
“That last putt, I was shaking,” she admitted. “I’ve never been so nervous in my life to make a 2-footer. It was definitely a very good feeling to get that one in.”
Wood, who was paired with Romano on Tuesday, matched her final-round 75. Those two finished one stroke better than Kennedy (final-round 74), Tait (79) and Merchant (77).
In the 5A team competition, Regis Jesuit won by three over Rock Canyon, ending Cherry Creek’s run of three straight titles. Regis swept the boys and girls 5A state championships during the 2013-14 school year. Creek, led by Ringsby’s seventh-place individual showing, finished fifth on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, at the 4A tournament in Colorado Springs, there was very little drama in the individual competition after Kupcho opened up a nine-stroke lead after round 1.
Tuesday turned out to be little more than an extended coronation for Kupcho, who like Wood is a member of the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround Golf Course.
Kupcho backed up her even-par 72 on Monday with a 74 on Tuesday at the Country Club of Colorado for her 14-stroke victory over Andrea Ballou of Valor Christian. Kupcho earned the top spot after finishing third at state as a freshman and second last year.
“It’s really amazing,” she said. “I’m pretty excited. I’m excited I represented my school like that. I get to go back and all my friends will be excited and proud and everything.”
On Tuesday, with little challenge being mounted from opponents, the 17-year-old Kupcho carded a birdie and three bogeys in her round of 74. The bottom line was, she wasn’t to be denied again at the state tournament.
“I wanted to do it,” she said. “Obviously, I’ve lost the last couple of years so I’ve always really wanted to win — and I finally did it.”
Cheyenne Mountain, playing in its hometown, easily defended its 4A team title, rallying on Tuesday to beat runner-up Montrose by 15 shots for the tournament.
For the final state high school scores, click on these links: 5A, 4A
