Jack Pevny leads AHS boys golf to second place at home tournament

Between experiential education and other life distractions, Jack Pevny hadn’t played much golf over the past few weeks and it showed. Still, the Aspen High School senior wasn’t completely disappointed with his round Tuesday at Aspen Golf Club.

“I’ve taken about two weeks off, so it was kind of interesting coming in,” he said. “I was playing well all day; I just toward the end had a few mishaps on the green. But other than that it was more or less what I expected from my first day back in a while.”

The AHS boys golf team hosted its annual Skiers Invitational on Tuesday, where Pevny shot 5-over 76 to finish in fourth place. It was the first tournament of the season where Aspen fielded its entire “A” team, which is led by Pevny, the only returning member of last year’s Class 3A state championship team. The team did play without Lucas Lee, who surprisingly won a tournament at Black Canyon Golf Course in Montrose last month.

“We can’t be unhappy with a result like this after being out of school without our clubs for quite a while,” AHS coach Mary Woulfe said. “The boys all had excellent experiences on Ex-Ed and Jack was out looking at colleges.”

In a tournament the Skiers often win, it was fellow 3A school Colorado Academy that took top honors on Tuesday, shooting a collective 234 for the win. Awards were given out separately for 3A and 4A schools, with Aspen and Steamboat Springs tying for second overall with 240. The Sailors, a 4A team, led that classification. Eagle Valley, another 4A team, finished fourth overall with 259.

Basalt High School, which regularly plays in the Aspen tournament, did not compete on Tuesday.

Steamboat’s Beck Kuhlman and Colorado Academy’s Jack Garnsey each shot 3-over 74 to tie for the win. Coming from different classifications, they didn’t compete in a playoff to determine the overall winner. Thayer Plewe of Montezuma-Cortez was third overall with 75, while Pevny was a shot back. Aspen junior John Hall, who played on the “B” team Tuesday and didn’t factor into the team score, shot 78 to tie for fifth overall.

Nic Pevny, Jack’s younger brother, and Will Stiller, both sophomores, each shot 82 to tie for 13th overall. Junior Jake Doyle was the fourth member of the “A” team on Tuesday, shooting 102.

“Without the depth we’ve had in the past, it’s going to be hard to know which ones of the guys are going to be ready to play,” Woulfe said. “It’s just going to be a guessing game and we need a lot of results from these guys to help them get more comfortable playing tournament golf.”

Other than Jack Pevny, who is more or less a lock to be one of the four players to compete at regionals, it’s wide open in regards to who all will play on Sept. 25 when AHS hosts its first regional tournament since 2008. Many of the current “B” team members, such as Hall, Lee and junior Cole Kennedy, are all in the running to take one of those spots.

However, inconsistencies across the board will make the final decision a difficult one. The Skiers have three weeks to figure out who gets to fight for a spot in the state tournament.

“We are up and down. But overall I’m really proud of how hard the boys are working,” Woulfe said. “They are practicing hard and really trying to improve. We need to do some work on our putting and just try and figure out which four we are going to take.”

While a repeat team title could be a tall task considering their up-and-down nature this season, the Skiers certainly have an individual title contender in Jack Pevny. A year ago at Boulder Country Club, Pevny opened the state tournament with a 68 and trailed by only a stroke going into the second and final round. He slipped up some on Day 2, shooting 76, but still finished in a tie for fourth place. Senior teammate Jack Hughes led the Skiers a year ago by taking second overall.

This year’s state tournament is Oct. 7 and 8 at the Air Force Academy’s Eisenhower Golf Course outside Colorado Springs. The Skiers are scheduled to play in a tournament at Eisenhower on Monday, letting them preview the course.

For Jack Pevny, this season has had a “different energy” without his senior teammates from last fall. Still, he’s excited about the opportunity to host regionals and believes he’ll be in the mix come the state tournament.

“I’m getting back into it. It’s definitely different without those boys,” he said. “It’s going to be amazing. I feel like if we can manage to get the win individually or as a team or both, that would be very special for my senior rear.”

acolbert@aspentimes.com

via:: The Aspen Times