It’s safe to say Caleb Barker has taken a liking to Saddle Rock Golf Course.
The one golf tournament the Highlands Ranch High School junior won this season took place at Saddle Rock, and when he returned there Monday for the Class 5A state tournament, he shot his best score of the season and built a four-stroke lead.
Saddle Rock “fits my eye,” he said.
On a cold — and sometimes windy and sometimes rainy — day, Barker was the only player to break par at the Aurora course which used to host the Colorado Open. Playing before the worst of the weather hit, Barker posted a 2-under-par 70.
Three players at 74 share second place going into Tuesday’s final round. That group includes Overland’s Jonathan Park, a third-place finisher at state last year, and Pine Creek teammates Ben Krueger and Mike Vogelsong.
Douglas County’s Cody Kent, the 2008 runner-up, joined Regis’ Tyler Engel and Fruita’s Ethan Grider in a tie for fifth place at 75.
Barker wasn’t among the pre-tournament favorites to win the 5A state title. After all, he finished 57th at state in 2008 and shot 80 in his state-qualifying tournament this year. But on Monday he hit 16 greens in regulation and used an eagle to help build his big lead. On the 593-yard sixth hole, Barker hit a 5-wood hole-high and chipped in for a 3 from 15 feet.
Barker also added one birdie and one bogey on his scorecard.
“It was some pretty good timing” to record his best round of the season, he admitted. “And I haven’t been playing very good in the last week. I wasn’t expecting to go very low, but I was expecting to play pretty good.”
A round at Saddle Rock, where he estimates he’s played 15 times this year, proved the right medicine for his game.
As for what he expects on Tuesday, Barker said, “We’ll go out and see what happens. I’m just going to let it happen and not force anything.”
As one of the last players off the course, Park — along with many of the other top competitors in the field — had to battle the worst of the weather, including a significant stretch of playing in the rain. But it was the start of the round, not the end, that caused him the most trouble.
Park was 4 over par through five holes — a lost ball led to a double bogey early in the round — but he played his last 13 holes in 2 under. That includes a three-hole stretch (15 through 17, on his front nine) in which he went birdie-birdie-birdie, making 15-20-foot putts on each occasion.
“I had to rally back, so I’ll take it,” the senior said. “I feel pretty good about that.”
Park said “my putter saved me” as he needed only 25 or 26 strokes on the greens in Monday’s round.
Park is no stranger to success on the course. He won four times during the high school season, and recently claimed the title by six strokes at a CJGA tournament at King’s Deer Golf Club in Monument.
In the 5A team competition, Regis, led by Engel’s 75, holds a one-shot advantage over defending champion Douglas County. Regis posted a 13-over-par 229 total. Pine Creek (233) is third and Highlands Ranch (234) fourth.
The individual leaders will tee off in Tuesday’s final round at 10:27 a.m.
In the other two state high school tournaments, also taking place Monday and Tuesday, here’s a roundup:
Class 4A at Highlands Ranch Golf Club — Drew Trujillo of Montrose fired a 6-under-par 66 to grab a two-stroke lead after the first day of the 4A state meet. Trujillo made seven birdies and one bogey to build a two-shot advantage over Sam Phillips of D’Evelyn.
Tournament favorite Wyndham Clark, a sophomore at Valor Christian, opened with a bogey-free 69 to share third place with Rock Canyon’s Matt Porter. Clark, the reigning CGA Junior Stroke Play champion and the runner-up in Class 4A last year, is ranked among the top 50 boys players in the nation.
In all, six players broke par Monday — Rock Canyon’s Josh Gardella (70) and Valor Christian’s Michael Schoolcraft (71) were the others — and another four shot even-par 72.
In the team competition, Valor Christian, the fourth-place team a year ago, posted a three-player total of 4-under-par 212 to hold a one-shot advantage over Rock Canyon.
The tournament will conclude Tuesday, with the leaders teeing off at 10:27 a.m.
Class 3A at Cougar Canyon Golf Links in Trinidad — Peter Hassan of Alexander Dawson shot a 4-over-par 76 to take a three-stroke lead into Tuesday’s final round. The only other players to break 80 on Monday were 2008 runner-up Andrew Cornella of St. Mary’s and Mitchel Solomon of Erie (both 79).
Hassan posted three birdies in the first round, offset by five bogeys and one double bogey.
Sharing fourth place at the halfway point of the tournament are Steven Kupcho of Jefferson Academy, who finished fourth last year, and Carson Joens of Estes Park.
Kent Denver, a state champion the last three seasons (including 2006 and 2007 in 4A) shares the team lead with Holy Family, which placed fifth last year. Both posted 42-over-par 258s in round 1. Trinidad is in third at 260.
