Cris Rudosky and Blake Keetch are heading to state.
The two Montezuma-Cortez golf team members qualified for the Class 3A State Championship on Monday at the Class 3A Region 4 Tournament at Devil’s Thumb Golf Course in Delta.
Rudosky, Keetch, Jens Jorgensen and Luke Gross represented the Panthers at the regional tournament. And starting on the 10th hole on Monday, head coach Micah Rudosky said his squad got off to a less than ideal start by finding the water hazard.
“We got off to a rough start,” he said. “I think Luke got around it okay, but the other ones were in the water.”
Fortunately, the Panthers were able to shake off the turbulent beginning and finish strong.
Rudosky shot 6 over par to claim fourth place, Keetch finished 15 over to tie for 17th, Jorgensen was 43 over to finish 50th and Gross finished 47 over to wind up 53rd.
Jorgensen and Gross missed the cut, but Rudosky said he was proud of the way they played.
“They wrapped up their season kind of their average scores,” he said. “And they actually stepped up to play, because this course was probably the longest we’ve played all season, by a ways…I was proud of them and they had a lot of great holes and a lot of great shots.”
After qualifying for the state tournament, Rudosky and Keetch will play on Monday and Tuesday at Saddle Rock Golf Course in Aurora.
And after browsing through scores from other 3A regionals, coach Rudosky believes his players are in position to make some noise.
“Cristoffer has a good chance of being in the hunt at state,” he said. “If he can get it together like he played here that would be great.”
“Blake needs to hit those fairways,” he continued. “And he’s accurate enough to do that. If he’s hitting those fairways he’s going to be right in there shooting in the low 80s.”