The Steamboat Springs girls golf team watched with great anticipation on the 18th hole while their teammate, senior Catherine Larock, was an up-and-down away from sending the Sailors to a second-place playoff at the regional tournament.

Unaware of the situation, Larock chipped up onto the green, leaving the ball just four feet from the pin. Her putt dropped, sending the Sailors to a four-on-four playoff against the Mullen Mustangs on Tuesday at the Foothills Golf Course in Denver.

Larock had a confused look on her face when the putt sent her teammates into a frenzy and only learned seconds later from coach Andrew Donner about the gravity of the moment. Larock simply responded, “Thank you for not telling me.”

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At regionals, only the top two teams punch automatic bids to the state championship with the next 13 individual golfers earning spots as well. 

Steamboat and Mullen were sent to the 10th tee box for the playoff in which all eight golfers played together. Steamboat put the pressure on early and forced the Mustangs to make three consecutive four foot putts to stay alive. To Mullen’s credit, the Mustangs did just that. 

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The Sailors began to tire by the time they reached the 11th tee box and ultimately came up just short on the second playoff hole to finish third overall as a team. However, with three state qualifiers, the Sailors will still count as a team in the state competition.

It will be déjà vu for Steamboat, which qualified the same three girls as last year for the state tournament — Kaitlyn Grommeck, Katharina Cosby and Larock. Maddy Moline missed state by just four strokes but improved on her regional score from last season by 31 shots.

Donner said he was incredibly impressed with how the girls performed considering it was their fifth time on grass all season. The girls spent the majority of the year hitting balls into nets at the high school gym or occasionally practicing at golf studios in town. The wet spring canceled several tournaments including the events in Steamboat and Craig. 

“As a team, we just didn’t get to play a lot of events,” Donner said. “For us to show up at regionals and do what we did against a bunch of Front Range schools and other schools that play golf mostly year-round, I thought it was great. I’m really proud of the girls.”

The leader for the Sailors at regionals was Grommeck, a junior who had been out since February with a concussion. She was cleared to begin play last week, meaning regionals was her first tournament of the season. 

Grommeck shot a 77, placing fourth overall. 

“She had to alter her own mentality on how to play golf because, without playing for that long, you are not hitting the ball nearly as far as you’re used to, you’re more inconsistent on your ball striking and we talked about how to play the game you have,” Donner explained.

Cosby also had limited opportunities to play this season while she was competing and training in Alpine skiing events this spring. Nevertheless, she managed to place 14th individually at regionals and shot an 85. 

While Donner felt the girls threw some shots away Tuesday, he said they did a great job of managing the greens and taking knowledge from Monday’s practice round with them to the regional round. 

“There was a lot of bounce going on with the balls when they were chipping up onto the greens,” Donner said. “Sometimes they were really receptive, sometimes they were bouncier. I thought the girls did a really great job of learning that in the practice round and then applying that to the actual regional round.”

With three qualifying for state, Steamboat will count as a full team. The girls will travel to Colorado Springs on Sunday to play a practice round at The Country Club of Colorado and then tee it up for the state championship rounds on Monday and Tuesday.

“Those three girls, if they play well, we can go and compete for a top-five finish for sure,” Donner said.

Results
4A Girls Golf Region 4 Regional
Foothills Golf Course
Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Team — Erie, 217; 2. Mullen, 251; 2. Steamboat Springs, 251; 4. Durango, 252; 5. Golden, 261; 6. Battle Mountain, 269; 7. Glenwood Springs, 295; 8. Vista Peak, 302; 9. Rifle, 308; 10. Montrose, 311; 11. Eagle Valley, 317; 12. Grand Junction, 323; 13. Palisade, 338; 14. Evergreen, 360.

Individual Top 10 — 1. Logan Hale, Erie, 66; 2. Hadley Ashton, Erie, 68; 3. Sophia Capua, Vista Peak, 72; 4. Kaitlyn Grommeck, Steamboat Springs, 77; 5. Jane Gray, Mullen, 78; 6. Makena Thayer, Battle Mountain, 80; 6. Jayden Craig, Durango, 80; 8. Mollie Todd, Golden, 81; 9. Riley Sullivan, Mullen, 82; 10. Taylor Hale, Erie, 83.

Other Steamboat golfers — 14. Katherina Cosby, 85; 16. Catherine Larock, 89; 28. Maddy Moline, 98.