One day after Thayer Plewe led the Montezuma-Cortez boys golf team to a season-opening victory, he was back at it Thursday on his home Conquistador Golf Course in Cortez.
Plewe backed up a 2-over-par 73 on Wednesday to win at Pagosa Springs Golf Club with a 1-over 73 on Thursday at Conquistador. Plewe was 4-over at the turn going to the back-nine holes and was still 4-over through 12 holes. But a birdie on the par-4 No. 13 and another on the par-4 14th had him feeling good. He added a birdie on the par-4 No. 17 to get back to 1-over. His score was two shots better than Kade Hayward of Fruita Monument and three shots better than Durango’s Levi Tichi and Cortez teammate Blake Keetch to give him medalist honors for a second consecutive day.
Class 5A Fruita Monument, which didn’t play Wednesday in Pagosa Springs, shot 17-over as a team to win Thursday. Montezuma-Cortez finished second at 20-over, and Durango was third at 23-over. Grand Junction was well back in fourth place at 40-over, and Gunnison rounded out the top five at 43-over. Twelve teams competed in the event.
Tichi stared with a bogey, as did Plewe. A double bogey on the par-4 No. 6 sent Tichi to 3-over, but he got it back to 2-over with a birdie on the par-5 No. 10. Bogeys on No. 12 and No. 14, though, sent him to a round of 76.
Keetch had a red-hot start for the second consecutive day and was once again in red numbers before unraveling on the back-nine. He opened with a par and birdied the par-4 No. 2. He had another birdie on No. 6 to get to 2-under before three consecutive bogeys put him at 1-over. He was back to even with a birdie on No. 10, but a bogey on No. 11, a double bogey on No. 12 and a bogey on No. 16 sent him to his round of 76.
Durango’s Ethan Whidden was one shot back in fifth at 6-over. Fruita had strong scores with Josh Sotuder at 5-over and then a 9-over from Brayden Kelley and a 10-over round from Aden Dangler. Trigg Hayward tied Dangler for 10th, as the Wildcat also shot 10-over.
Levi Larson finished at 11-over for Durango to place 12th, and Luke Ford shot 13-over to tie for 13th. Durango’s Sten Joyner shot 15-over to tie for 17th.
Justin Brunner of Montezuma-Cortez completed the three-round varsity team score with a 15-over, which tied for 17th. Casen Allmon of Cortez shot 20-over to tie for 29th.
Durango will be back in action Aug. 21-22 with two rounds hosted by Montrose.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com