But there’s at least one major item left on his to-do list regarding Colorado junior golf, and the opportunity to check it off his list comes early next week.

The Fossil Ridge senior, who plans on signing a national letter of intent with perennial college powerhouse Oklahoma State later this fall, has yet to win a state high school title. He finished second last year as now-Colorado State University player Davis Bryant prevailed. In previous seasons, Stewart placed 16th in 2016 and 19th as a freshman in 2015.

But Stewart has certainly put together a record in recent months that point to him as the player to beat next week:

— He won the individual title at the prestigious Junior America’s Cup competition, leading Colorado to its first team championship ever in that event.

— He became the first boy from Colorado to prevail at the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior.

— He also qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur and won an AJGA event in Montana.

— And just last week at Murphy Creek Golf Course, Stewart fired a 9-under-par 63 in winning the 5A Northern Regional state qualifying tournament by five shots. He posted a 7-under 29 on the front nine and was an amazing 11 under through 15 holes before bogeying 16 and 17. He finished ith 11 birdies and two bogeys on the day.

Stewart will be among 84 players competing in the Class 5A state tournament at Colorado Springs Country Club on Monday and Tuesday. That will be one of two 36-hole state tournaments held in Colorado Springs on those days as the 4A meet is set for The Club at Flying Horse. The 3A tournament is scheduled for Boulder Country Club.

Here’s a quick look at what to expect from each of next week’s boys state tournaments:

— 5A at Colorado Springs Country Club: Stewart will be one of four top-10 finishers from the 2017 5A state tournament who will be competing in Colorado Springs. The other three — all of whom tied for sixth place, are Connor Jones from Mountain Range, Ryder Heuston of Fairview and Beam Boonta of Cherokee Trail.

Among the other qualifiers for the 5A state field are Valor Christian’s Jake Welch, who beat Stewart by two at the Colorado Junior Amateur over the summer, and U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier Chris Kennedy of Smoky Hill. Welch shot a 68 to win the 5A Central Regional at Legacy Ridge. Valor Christian played in 4A last year, when Welch placed seventh at state, but now is in 5A.

Team-wise, Regis Jesuit will be going for its fourth consecutive 5A championship, eighth in the last nine years, and 10th overall. Meanwhile, at its regional meet, Fossil Ridge shot 6-under 210 to win at Murphy Creek.

— 4A at The Club at Flying Horse: Only two players who finished in the top 10 in last year’s 4A meet are back to compete in the same tournament at Flying Horse — and both are from Montrose. That would be Micah Stangebye, who tied for fourth, and Jordan Jennings, who finished seventh. Those two players tied for the lowest 4A regional tournament scores this year, matching 69s at Indian Peak in 4A Region 4.

Others who will be competing include TJ Shehee of Mead, a 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier who won the 4A Region 3 tournament at the Olde Course at Loveland; and Kaden Ford of Discover Canyon, who competed in the Drive, Chip & Putt Nationals at Augusta National in April.

Montrose, winner of the 4A team title last year and the runner-up in 2016, figures to be a strong contender for another championship. The Indians shot a regional-best 2-under-par 214 at Indian Peaks to win 4A Region 4.

— 3A at Boulder Country Club: Davis Long of Peak to Peak will be the only 2017 individual state high school champion back to defend his title last week. Last year’s state tournament at Indian Peaks was limited to one round due to weather.

Long is one of seven top-10 finishers in the 2017 3A state tournament returning for this year’s meet. The others were Walker Franklin of Prospect Ridge (tied for second), Dominic Lanese IV and Derek Holmes of Aspen (fourth), Peter Grossenbacher of Eaton (fourth), Jackson Klutznick of Kent Denver (fourth) and Billy Howenstein of Dawson (fourth).

Along with Stewart — and current college players Bryant and Cal McCoy — Franklin was part of the Colorado team that won its first-ever Junior America’s Cup title over the summer.

Peak to Peak won’t be able to defend its team title in Boulder as the Pumas only qualified two players for state. They prevailed last year in a playoff over 2016 champion Kent Denver. It was Peak to Peak’s second team title in three years.

Meanwhile, Kent Denver will be seeking its 10th boys state championship next week.

This will be the second high school state tournament hosted by Boulder CC in the last four-plus months as the 5A girls meet was held there in late May.

For Monday’s tee times at all three state tournament sites, CLICK HERE.
 

Here are the teams and individuals that won regional state-qualifying tournaments last week:

5A Southern at Murphy Creek GC — Team: Arapahoe 3-over-par 219; Individual: (tie) Jack Tickle, Arapahoe, 71; Riley Rottschaefer, Arapahoe, 71; Brandon Bervig, Liberty, 71.
5A Central at Legacy Ridge GC — Team: (tie) Fairview 7-over-par 223 (won team playoff); Valor Christian 223; Individual: Jake Welch, Valor Christian 68.
5A Western at GC at Redlands Mesa — Team: Ralston Valley 9-over-par 225; Individual: Ryan Bomareto, Horizon 71.
5A Northern at Murphy Creek GC — Team: Fossil Ridge 6-under-par 210; Individual: Dillon Stewart, Fossil Ridge 63.

4A Region 3 at Olde Course at Loveland — Team: Evergreen 17-over-par 233; Individual: TJ Shehee, Mead, 71.
4A Region 1 at Shining Mountain — Team: Coronado 39-over-par 249; Individual: Andrew Merz, Coranado 76.
4A Region 4 at Indian Peaks — Team: Montrose 2-under-par 214; Individual: (tie) Micah Stangebye, Montrose, 69; Jordan Jennings, Montrose, 69.
4A Region 2 at Eisenhower’s Silver Course — Team: Ponderosa 24-over-par 240; Individual: Mac Konrad, Ponderosa 76.

3A Region 2 at CommonGround — Team: Kent Denver 2-over-par 215; Individual: Jacob Mason, Holy Family, 67.
3A Region 1 at Hollydot — Team: Colorado Academy 16-over-par 229; Individual: Cody Schrock, La Junta, 70.
3A Region 3 at Boomerang — Team: Eaton 8-over-par 224; Individual: Peter Grossenbacher, Eaton, 70.
3A Region 4 at Dos Rios — Team: Aspen 1-over-par 214; Individual: Jack Hughes, Aspen 70.
 

A total of 42 boys and 21 girls — based off the JGAC Tour points list — accepted invitations to compete at prestigious Cherry Hills Country Club on Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 7-8), which will host the event for the second straight year. The 36-hole tournaments will be followed on Sunday night by the 2017 JGAC Awards Banquet.

Among those in the boys field are Davis Bryant, winner of the first two majors of the year and this week’s 5A state high school championship. Bryant and Hailey Schalk will be trying to become the first golfers to win three majors since the JGAC debuted at the beginning of 2016. Bryant didn’t play in the third major of 2017, the Colorado Junior Match Play, because of a scheduling conflict with another event.

Other boys state high school champions scheduled to play at Cherry Hills are Darren Edwards (4A) and Davis Long (3A), along with Luke Trujillo (2016 4A).

For the girls, Schalk will be looking to build on her big year as she’s won the girls 3A state high school title as a freshman, the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior and the Colorado Junior PGA Championship. She also captured the Colorado Junior Match Play title in 2016.

Lauren Lehigh, the 4A state high school champ, is also playing. And Emma Bryant, the Colorado Junior Match Play winner, is likewise in the field.

For Saturday’s first-round tee times for the JGAC Tour Championship, CLICK HERE.

Junior Ryder Cup at CommonGround: Meanwhile, another significant JGAC event will take place this weekend as CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora hosts the Junior Ryder Cup Friday through Sunday.

The top players age 6-13 compete, with designated Team USA and Team Europe squads squaring off. After a barbecue and shootout on Friday evening, Saturday will feature four-ball and foursomes matches (each nine holes), followed by 18-hole singles on Sunday.

There’s only one way to cap off an undefeated season, and Davis Bryant found out exactly how.

The Eaglecrest senior, who won every regular-season high school tournament in which he competed this season, then shared the regional title, fittingly finished things off with a victory in his final high school golf meet.

Bryant rallied from one behind going into Tuesday’s final round of the 5A tournament, pulling away on the back nine at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora for a two-stroke victory.

“I’ve been waiting for this for so long, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet,” said Bryant, the 5A runner-up last year. “I’m so excited and so happy that I could finally get the job done.

“This is probably the best (win) of my career because you’re playing against the best kids in the state and all different age levels.”

Also winning state titles on Tuesday were Darren Edwards of Thompson Valley in Class 4A at Raccoon Creek Golf Course in Littleton, and a second Davis, Davis Long of Peak to Peak, in the 3A tournament at Indian Peaks Golf Course, where Tuesday marked the only championship round after the course was saturated by rain on Monday. For more on those tournaments, see below.

At the 5A meet, Bryant parred the first 10 holes of Tuesday’s second round before making back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 and parring his last six holes for a bogey-free 2-under-par 69. The future Colorado State University golfer finished at 3-under 139, two better than Fossil Ridge junior Dillon Stewart and three ahead of Grand Junction junior Canon Olkowski. Stewart and Olkowski both closed with 72s on Tuesday.

The three players in the final group — Bryant, Olkowski and first-round leader Stewart — were tied overall after the front nine on Tuesday. But after Olkowski eagled No. 11 from 4 feet and Bryant and Stewart two-putted there for birdie, Bryant made a move with a 25-foot uphill birdie putt on No. 12 that had to travel over a large hump before falling in (pictured above).

“Once I made the birdie putt on 12, that was huge,” he said. “That gave me a little momentum.”

The birdie pushed Bryant into a share of the lead with Stewart (left), the player he beat to win the Colorado Junior PGA title this year. But Stewart three-putted for bogey on No. 13 to fall out of the lead, missed a 7-foot birdie attempt at No. 14, then bogeyed 15 and 16.

Meanwhile, Olkowski had a wild ride in the middle of the round — going birdie, bogey, eagle, bogey, birdie in consecutive holes starting at No. 9 — before likewise losing ground to Bryant late on the back nine.

As for Bryant, he was grinding out six straight pars down the stretch, including with a 7-footer on No. 15 and long two-putts on 14 and 17.

“Once I had a little lead, I wanted to make them to have to chase me with birdies, and I wanted to make as many pars as I could,” he said.

For Bryant, the win adds another chapter to an impressive 2017 season. He’s won both of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado majors in which he’s competed and he’s finished ninth individually at the Junior America’s Cup, 14th at the national Junior PGA and made it to the round of 64 at the U.S. Junior Amateur.

“I’d probably compare it to Jordan Spieth’s 2015 season (in which the PGA Tour player won the first two major championships before placing fourth in the British Open and second in the PGA Championship) a little bit,” Bryant said. “I’ve played so consistently since the beginning of April. The lowest (tournament round) I shot was 65 and the highest was 77. That feels pretty good. I started out strong (with a 65 at Todd Creek in May) and I finished strong.”

On Tuesday, he relied on his experience from the 2016 state tournament and the national events in which he’s competed this year.

“I learned from the experience last year against Kyle (Pearson of Highlands Ranch) and was able to make some of the par putts and grind it out a little better than I did last year,” Bryant said. “It was an awesome last two days.

“I think the summertime helped too — playing in those hard (national and international) tournaments with hard fields. And playing harder golf courses helped as well. Your mistakes are magnified when you play at those golf courses, so if you’re able to miss in the right spots, you give yourself shots at par. All the past experience, I was able to use and put together today. It feels really, really good to get the job done.”

Stewart, one of Bryant’s teammates on the Colorado Junior America’s Cup team this year, certainly wanted the title on Tuesday, but takes some consolation in the fact that he’ll get another crack at it next year.

“It’s obviously disappointing to take second,” he said. “I didn’t really play my best. Davis finished with a 69 today — that’s solid golf that he played and that’s pretty impressive to do that coming from behind.

“But putting myself in that position … and I still have one more year, so if I’m in this position again I can learn from what I did this year and move forward.”

In the 5A team race, Regis Jesuit (left) won for the third straight season, for the seventh time in the last eight years, and for the ninth time overall, tying the record for Colorado boys golf, set last year by Kent Denver.

This year’s Regis players included Cal McCoy, Cameron Kirke, Drew Anderson and Walker Fuller, with all but Fuller being seniors. McCoy has verbally committed to the University of Denver golf team.

“It’s a joy,” Regis coach Craig Rogers said. “I’m really happy, but especially this year because the senior class was about as good as I’ve ever seen. I think they felt a little extra pressure to make sure they didn’t have a letdown their senior year. So I’m a little more relieved because I knew we had the talent, but it’s golf and you never know what’s going to happen and there’s some great teams out here. So to see them complete the journey was really nice.”

With a 16-over-par 442 total, Regis finished seven strokes ahead of Cherry Creek and eight in front of third-place Grand Junction and Arapahoe.

Class 4A at Raccoon Creek: Thompson Valley senior Darren Edwards pulled away in the final round for a three-stroke victory in the individual competition. Edwards shot back-to-back rounds of 73 for a 2-over-par 146 total.

Edwards, who finished fourth at state last year, was 2 over for his first eight holes on Tuesday, but then birdied three of his next four to take control. He finished with three birdies and four bogeys in the final round.

Despite bogeying his final two holes, Barrett Jones of Eagle Valley posted the best score of the tournament, a 1-under-par 71, to tie for second place at 5-over 149. He made four birdies on Tuesday.

Also at 149 was Bridger Tenney of Evergreen, who birdied three of his final eight holes to shoot 74 on Tuesday.

Defending champion Luke Trujillo of Discovery Canyon finished 16th at 159.

In the team competition, 2016 runner-up Montrose won its second state title, besting Evergreen by six and Valor Christian by nine. The Indians, also champions in 2003, posted a two-day total of 34-over-par 466.

Class 3A at Indian Peaks: With the 3A meet being more of a sprint as an 18-hole tournament, Peak to Peak claimed both the individual and team titles.

Individually, sophomore Davis Long edged defending champion Oliver Jack of Kent Denver and Walker Franklin of Prospect Ridge. Long birdied the 16th and 18th holes — the latter from 15 feet — to shoot 3-under-par 69. He finished the day with six birdies and three bogeys.

Jack, who eagled the par-4 seventh hole after driving the green, was 4 under par through 11 holes, but double bogeyed No. 12 and played his final six holes in even. Franklin bogeyed his final hole — marking his only bogey of the day — for a 70.

But Long’s work for the day wasn’t yet done. He and his Peak to Peak teammates tied defending 3A state champion Kent Denver for top team honors at 1-over-par 217, then went to a playoff to decide a champion. Peak to Peak prevailed, winning its second state title in three years, this one at the Pumas’ home course. Kent Denver had been seeking an unprecedented 10th boys state golf championship.
 

Class 5A Top Finishers
At Par-71 CommonGround GC in Aurora
TEAM
Regis Jesuit 217-225–442
Cherry Creek 221-228–449
Arapahoe 228-222–450
Grand Junction 226-224–450
Denver East 229-228–457
INDIVIDUAL
Davis Bryant, Eaglecrest 70-69–139
Dillon Stewart, Fossil Ridge 69-72–141
Canon Olkowski, Grand Junction 70-72–142
Cal McCoy, Regis Jesuit 70-74–144
Tommy Parker, Arapahoe, 72-72–144
Connor Jones Mountain Range 72-74–146
Freddie Gluck, Boulder 73-73–146
Sam Blackwood, Heritage 71-75–146
Ryder Heuston, Fairview 72-74–146
Supawich (Beam) Boonta, Cherokee Trail 74-72–146

For complete 5A results, CLICK HERE.
 

Class 4A Top Finishers
At Par-72 Raccoon Creek GC in Littleton
TEAM
Montrose 233-233–466
Evergreen 238-234–472
Valor Christian 234-241–475
Palmer Ridge 240-238–478
Thompson Valley 249-237–486
INDIVIDUAL
Darren Edwards, Thompson Valley 73-73–146
Barrett Jones, Eagle Valley 78-71–149
Bridger Tenney, Evergreen 75-74–149
Micah Stangebye, Montrose 76-76–152
Jacob Smith, Rifle 77-75–152
Tyler Severin, Roosevelt 73-79–152
Jake Welch, Valor Christian 73-80–153
Jordan Jennings, Montrose 75-78–153
Wes Weber, Mountain View 77-77–154
Nathan Dwyer, Thompson Valley 79-75–154

For complete 4A results, CLICK HERE.
 

Class 3A Top Finishers
At Par-72 Indian Peaks GC in Lafayette
Note: Day 1 was rained out. Tournament was reduced to 18 holes.
TEAM
Peak to Peak 217 (won playoff)
Kent Denver 217
Aspen 224
Eaton 234
Colorado Academy 236

INDIVIDUAL
Davis Long, Peak to Peak 69
Oliver Jack, Kent Denver 70
Walker Franklin, Prospect Ridge 70
Thomas Messner, Coloradao Academy 73
Ian Thorpe, Peak to Peak 73
Dominic Lanese IV, Aspen 73
Peter Grossenbacher, Eaton 73
Jackson Klutznick, Kent Denver 73
Dawson Holmes, Aspen 73
Cris Rudosky, Montezuma Cortez 73
Billy Howenstein, Dawson 73

For complete 3A results, CLICK HERE.