Steamboat girls golf team takes silver at regionals, Grommeck crowned regional champ

Andrew Donner/Steamboat Springs Girls Golf
It was the hardest single round of golf the Sailors will ever face, according to head coach Andrew Donner.
With winds blowing as high as 40 miles per hour at Gypsum Creek Golf Course, double bogeys were practically playing as pars.
Nevertheless, the Steamboat girls pushed through the challenge, taking second place in the Class 3A Region 4 Championships with senior Kaitlyn Grommeck leading the pack as the regional champion.
Donner and the girls discussed prior to the round about how the wind may affect play. Sometimes coming up short of the green on an approach shot isn’t the end of the world on a windy day.
“When you get into wind that strong, your goal is to limit damage because you’re not going to hit every shot good,” Donner explained. “When the wind is blowing that hard and you hit a poor shot, the wind magnifies it by 1,000. Shots to the right edge of the fairway end up out of play.”
With that in mind, the girls understood that carding double bogeys or worse is not the end of the world. The expectations per hole had shifted compared to a traditional tournament.
On the first hole alone, the girls combined to shoot 14-over-par on a hole facing directly into the wind. The rough scores did not deter the girls from attacking the course smartly — Donner was especially impressed with Grommeck’s ability to brush off a double bogey and come out with a par on the next hole. She shot an 81 on the par 72 course for first place — three strokes ahead of the second place finisher.
“I thought that was the best round of golf I’ve ever seen her play,” Donner said. “Not the best score, but just mentally the best round. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of grit to do what she did yesterday. She deserves an unbelievable amount of credit.”
Joining Grommeck on the leaderboard was junior teammate Katharina Cosby whose round of 92 was good for a tie for third place. Juniors Maddy Moline and Brynn Becker placed 20th and 27th with rounds of 117 and 122, respectively.
The top two finish at regionals grants Steamboat the chance to send all four girls to the state championship — the first time all four players advance in program history.
The girls will travel to Greeley on Sunday for a practice round at the Boomerang Links Golf Course, where the two state championship rounds will be held on Monday and Tuesday.

To reach Tom Skulski, call 970-871-4240, email tskulski@SteamboatPilot.com.

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