Two Colorado high school seniors-to-be who are headed to some prominent NCAA Division I golf programs in 2019 are proving their worth in the early going of the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.
Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins, who plans to sign a National Letter of Intent this fall with Oklahoma State — the NCAA champion — shot a 2-under-par 70 to grab a two-stroke lead in the boys division.
And Lauren Lehigh of Loveland, who has verbally committed to University of New Mexico, matched that 70 to set the pace by one in the girls division.
Stewart (left) finished day 1 with four birdies and two bogeys and posted the only subpar round of the day for the boys. The 17-year-old played his final six holes in 2 under.
“I don’t really like to think of this as a huge tournament” despite a quality field from all over the U.S., Stewart said. “I just think of it as another tournament, really. Obviously there’s going to be some better players, some better competition, and they set up the course pretty tough for us. It’s more toward a college level is how they set it up. The greens are firm and fast. Other than that, it’s just another tournament for me.”
Walker Franklin of Broomfield and Ty Findlow of Lone Tree share second place at 72 with Elliott Horton of Edmond, Okla. Among those at 73 is Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado 2017 Boys Player of the Year Davis Bryant of Aurora, who was running on empty after playing 36 holes — and failing to advance — at U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying in Portland on Monday. He flew back to Denver early Tuesday to make his 12:10 p.m. tee time in the AJGA event.
“Not too bad for like five hours of sleep, waking up at 3 a.m., flight leaving at 6, getting (to DIA) at 9:30, racing across town, warming up, getting a turkey sandwich before I teed off,” said Bryant (left). “All in all, I’m pretty pleased with it. I’ve got to lower the expectations a little bit with how hard the golf course plays and obviously what happened yesterday and in the last 15-20 hours.
“I need bed and I need a good dinner.”
The Colorado State University signee began and finished the day with a birdie and ended up with four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.
“Now that I’m in the tournament, three shots back of the lead, I’ve got two days to win a tournament I’ve been trying to win for a while,” the 18-year-old said. “I’ll try to make it happen.”
Stewart, who finished second behind Bryant at the 5A state high school meet last fall, still has one more year of high school remaining. Then it’s off to join the Oklahoma State men’s golf team, which just won its 11th national title, this one on its home course. The Cowboys earned 10 tournament victories this past season, the most for any NCAA-winning program since 1977.
“I’m super excited, with them trying to do again what they did this year,” Stewart said of OSU. “The big picture (in going to Oklahoma State) is, college is a step toward what I want to be — play professionally. I feel like Oklahoma State is going to give me the best chance” of achieving that goal and being successful at it.
Also on the boys side at Walnut Creek on Tuesday, defending champion Artem Yalovenko, a native of Russia who now lives in Florida, shot a first-round 76 in his title defense despite a birdie on the final hole.
In the girls division, Lehigh, the 2017 4A state high school individual champion, shot her 70 despite missing three putts of 3 feet or less. She finished with five birdies — including a 70-footer on No. 5 — and three bogeys.
“The score was good and I was hitting the ball really well, but I also know it could have been a heck of a lot better,” the 17-year-old said.
Being in the running for the title at an AJGA event that features players from 17 states and four countries is important to Lehigh.
“It would mean a lot” to be in contention, she said. “Being committed (to the University of New Mexico), just proving to them that they made the right choice there is important.”
The only other girls player to post a subpar round on Tuesday was Abby Glynn of Topeka, Kan., who carded a 71.
Hailey Schalk of Erie, who last year became the first Colorado resident to win a title in the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, opened with a 73 after going birdie-bogey on her final two holes. She shares third place with Canadian Savannah Grewal.
“I think it would be awesome to (successfully) defend my title in this,” said Schalk, who’s won 3A state high school titles as a freshman and a sophomore. “I’m obviously trying to win and want to win, but I’m just trying to play good golf like I have been recently. Today, I had just one birdie (a 20-footer on 17), which wasn’t very good.”
Schalk, the JGAC Girls Player of the Year in 2017, is coming off a sixth-place finish last week in the AJGA Las Vegas Junior at Reflection Bay.
“I think it’s really awesome to be able to travel wherever — even here — and have a ton of competition from all over,” said the 16-year-old. “That’s really cool.”
For scores from the AJGA Hale Irwin Junior, CLICK HERE.
