High school golf: Lone Peak takes 5A championship

MIDWAY — The Lone Peak Knights didn't like hearing that they were the third best high school golf team in Utah.

So when the Region 4 champs began play this week at the 5A Utah High School Golf Championship at Soldier Hollow State Park, they had a little chip on their shoulders and a statement to make. They wanted everyone to know they were just as good, if not better, than the two powers from Region 1 — Fremont and Syracuse.

First they got everyone's attention with an opening-round 4-over par 292 on Monday on Soldier Hollow's more difficult Gold Course — a score good enough to sit in second place, two shots behind defending champion Fremont and four up on Syracuse.

But when they blistered the Silver Course on Tuesday for an 8-under par 280, the Knights drove down Provo Canyon with the 5A trophy in tow and the school's second state golf championship. Also, everyone in 5A golf now knows with certainty where Lone Peak ranks.

"Every one was saying that we didn't have a chance, but we came out and showed that we can play with the best," Knight junior Garrett Fotu said.

Fremont finished second, seven shots back, and Syracuse took third, nine shots behind.

"I've told these guys all year that we needed to play our best golf at the end and get stronger every week, and that's exactly what we did," Lone Peak coach Troy Nordick said. "We played our best golf of the season today."

It's hard to argue with the coach's assessment when the Knights' two standouts, Fotu and Joe Parkinson, each fired the day's two low rounds — a 6-under 66 each. Combined with his opening-round 70, Fotu finished as medalist, four shots ahead of Syracuse's Colton Ogden, and five ahead of Fremont's Zach Blair and Patrick Fishburn, Syracuse's Devon Purser and Skyline's Travis Norseth.

"It's great to finally accomplish what I've been trying to accomplish," Fotu said. "And it feels great to play two days of golf and never lose focus. Even when I made a bogey I kept my head on straight and never got frustrated and came back with a good shot or made a key putt. I just kept grinding."

But as big of role as Fotu and Parkinson played in holding off the big guns from Fremont and Syracuse, Lone Peak's little guys were just as valuable. Braxton Barber fired a 75 on Tuesday, and Taylor Smart's 74 was vital on Monday. But no one came up bigger than sophomore Alex Stulce, who put together the two best days of golf in his life with back-to-back 1-over par 73s.

Nordick was nervous about Stulce being paired with Fishburn and Purser, who fired a 69 each on Tuesday. However, Stulce was not intimidated once in his final round and put an exclamation point on his tournament when he rolled in a 30-foot birdie on No. 17.

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