Another second place tie for Lakewood golfers

Lakewood had a good chance to win the Class 5A State Golf Tournament at Fort Collins County Club.

Last year the Tigers tied for second place with Regis Jesuit but 21 shots behind champion Coronado. Lakewood would up tied for second once again this season, but only one shot behind Regis when the final scores were tallied following the Oct. 6 final round.

Lakewood trailed by nine shots early in the final round but charged back and was tied for the lead with three holes to play. However, Regis finished at 441 while Lakewood and Coronado finished at 442.

“We gave it our best, we had two good days,” said Lakewood coach Alan Gonzales. “All I could ask for is that we could get a chance. We got the chance.”

“We didn’t have a chance last year we were so far back. We were really happy for second. We had a chance to win it this year. Im proud of them. We came up short. It gives us next year to finish it off.”

Lakewood junior Griffin Barela had rounds of 71 and 73 to wind up tied for fifth on the individual leaderboard with a 2-over 144 total.

Junior Jeremy Mosser came home at 151 after rounds of 76 and 75. Senior Kevin Liao shot 77-75 for 152 and sophomore Jack Castiglia had rounds of 72-81 for a 153 total.

Only the top three scores from each of the two rounds were counted in the team scores.

“We were tight from the beginning,” added Gonzales about the final round after the Tigers and Regis were tied following the opening 18 holes. “We got slow starts. We were a total of 18 over par in the first six holes. We held it together. We had a good back nine and it was fun to watch.”

“Griffin played well on the back and gave us a chance. He did it all year, he gave us a chance all year. Jack even though he didnt play well the last day was a big part of our success. One bad round the whole season and it came on the final round of the state tournament.”

Tyler Zhang of Regis, playing in the next to last group, birdied the 18th hole which provided the Raiders with the winning margin.

Barela knew the Tigers had a chance to edge Regis and Coronado.

“After I got a birdie on 15 and Andrew McCormick (Regis) doubled it, I knew we were within either one or two,” recalled Barela. “That’s when I knew I had to birdie one or two of the last three holes to have a chance.”

Barela parred the final holes.

“I didn’t start well but after the first couple holes I felt I played really solid the rest of the round,” he added. “I just tried to hit some decent shots to see what would happen. After the first two holes, I struck the ball really well. I didnt make as many putts as I would have liked.”

“I didn’t feel comfortable over a lot of putts because I wasnt sure I had the line correct. Its been solid for us but next year as a team we want to do a little better. We only have one senior so we should have a pretty good team next year.”