The golfer from Loveland was among 12 girls — and 24 junior golfers overall — to be named to the 2018 Transamerica Scholastic Junior All-America Team by the AJGA. Since 1988, the honor has been given out to junior golfers who particularly excel on the golf course, in the classroom and in the community.

“These 24 exceptional young men and women are impressive on so many levels,” said Brian Forbes, director of sponsorships for Transamerica. “They exemplify sportsmanship on the golf course and citizenship in their schools and in their communities.”

Lehigh, a senior at Loveland High School, earned the honor by placing in the top five in an AJGA open or invitational, then based on the following criteria: standardized test scores, grade-point average, school leadership and community service.

The 2018 Transamerica Scholastic Junior All-America team has an average AJGA-adjusted GPA of 4.6, an average SAT score of 1,493.64 and an average ACT score of 34.62. Lehigh’s cumulative GPA for her first three years of high school is 4.116, and her best score on the SAT has been 1,430.

The honorees hail from California to Massachusetts and from Texas and Florida to Ontario, Canada — in addition to two from China.

The Transamerica Scholastic Junior All-America Team will be honored at the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet on Nov. 18 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Those named to the team earn a spot in the prestigious Rolex Tournament of Champions, which will be contested at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens Nov. 17-22.

Golfers who have been named to the Transamerica Scholastic Junior All-America Team in the past include Matt Kuchar (1994), Casey Martin (1989) and Cristie Kerr (1994).

Lehigh finished third — the best showing by any Colorado girl — in June at the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.

Lehigh sits atop the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s 2018 points standings for the Girls Junior Tour. A verbal commitment to the University of New Mexico, Lehigh won the girls division of the Colorado Junior Match Play, one of the four JGAC majors. During the course of 2018 at JGAC-related events, she’s won three times, placed second seven times and third three times. One of the runner-ups was in her title defense at the 4A state high school tournament.

Lehigh, a member of the Hale Irwin Player Program at CommonGround Golf Course for three years, helped lead Colorado to a fifth-place finish as a team at the Girls Junior Americas Cup competition at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, where Lehigh tied for 14th place individually. She finished 13th nationally in Big I National Championship.
 

That goes with the territory when everyone left in the field has made the cut from the original 312 golfers to the 64 match play qualifiers.

Dan Erickson (left) of Loveland played solid in Wednesday’s round-of-64 match, but he didn’t go several under par at Pebble Beach Golf Links — which is what he would have needed to advance.

Erickson, a Texas A&M golfer whose family moved to Colorado earlier this year, fell to Pepperdine player Joshua McCarthy of Danville, Calif., 3 and 2 on Wednesday, seeing his run at the championship end.

Erickson was 1 over par for the 16 holes of the match, but McCarthy was 3 under.

The Coloradan, who shot a course-record 61 at Fort Collins Country Club in qualifying for the championship last month, was 1 up after making a birdie on No. 4 on Wednesday. And the match was all quare after nine.

But McCarthy, playing in his third straight U.S. Am, won 10 and 13 with birdies and 12 with a par to go 3 up with five holes left. After Erickson took 14 with a par and McCarthy 15 with a birdie, the latter closed out the match with a halved par on 16.

Here are the results for the local players who competed at the U.S. Amateur:

MATCH PLAY ROUND OF 64 (Wednesday)
Joshua McCarthy of Danville, Calif., def. Dan Erickson of Loveland, 3 and 2

STROKE PLAY (Monday and Tuesday)
Advanced to Match Play
24. Dan Erickson of Loveland 73-71–144
Failed to Advance to Match Play
182. CSU golfer Cullen Plousha 78-75–153
197. Austin Hardman of Highlands Ranch 78-76–154
210. AJ Ott of Fort Collins 79-76–155
257. Kyler Dunkle of Parker 78-80–158
280. Coby Welch of Highlands Ranch 82-79–161

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

It just happened to be the newest addition to the state among this week’s competitors.

Dan Erickson, a Texas A&M golfer whose family moved to Loveland early this year, shot an even-par 71 on Tuesday at Pebble Beach Golf Links to post a 1-over 144 total for the stroke-play portion of the event.

That was good for a 24th-place showing out of 312 players, which easily was good enough to make the 64-man match play field. The first round of match play will take place on Wednesday.

Erickson (left), who fired a course-record 61 at Fort Collins Country Club en route to qualifying for the U.S. Am last month, made four birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on Tuesday at Pebble Beach.

Erickson finished seven strokes behind stroke-play medalists Daniel Hillier of New Zealand and Cole Hammer of Houston.

None of the other players with strong Colorado connections came within five strokes of making match play.

Here are the stroke-play scores for the local players at the U.S. Amateur:

Advances to Match Play
24. Dan Erickson of Loveland 73-71–144

Failed to Advance to Match Play
182. CSU golfer Cullen Plousha 78-75–153
197. Austin Hardman of Highlands Ranch 78-76–154
210. AJ Ott of Fort Collins 79-76–155
257. Kyler Dunkle of Parker 78-80–158
280. Coby Welch of Highlands Ranch 82-79–161

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

Holy Family’s Hailey Schalk has attracted plenty of attention in the world of junior golf for a while now, even though she’s just 15 years old.

She was promising enough to receive college golf scholarship offers early in her eighth-grade school year. Even though she won’t graduate from high school until 2020, she’s ranked No. 235 among the world’s female junior golfers by Junior Golf Scoreboard.

And this week, she showed again what the buzz is all about by becoming the first freshman in 15 years to win a Colorado girls state high school individual title. Schalk prevailed by seven strokes Tuesday in the inaugural 3A state tournament at The Broadlands in Broomfield.

“You have four years of high school, so to start off with a win is really cool,” she said. “This is big. And to have my best round ever (a 6-under-par 65 on Monday) set the bar higher. Winning this is pretty cool.” (Schalk is pictured celebrating Tuesday’s win as a very happy father Matt looks on.)

Schalk, who won the girls championship in the Colorado Junior Match Play last summer, backed up her career-best 65 on Monday with a 3-over-par 74 on Tuesday, giving her a 3-under 139 total.

The last freshman girl to win an individual state high school title was Mullen’s Ashley Tait, who claimed the first of her record-tying three prep state championships in 2002. Coincidentally, Tait was at The Broadlands this week as an assistant coach for her high school alma mater.

Not only had no freshman won a girls state title in 15 years, from 2007-16 it was all juniors and seniors.

Tuesday was just a continuation of what has been an extraordinary freshman season in which Schalk (left) won every high school tournament in which she competed.

“I’m super impressed she shot the type of scores and played the way she did,” said Matt Schalk, Hailey’s dad and the Holy Family coach, as well as being the PGA general manager at Colorado National Golf Club, which hosted the 4A state tournament. “She works so hard, so for me I was happy to see her get something out of working as hard as she does. In my opinion 3A is the most competitive (Colorado girls high school classification) out there. So for her to come out here and shoot that score and separate herself was really impressive.”

At state, Schalk’s winning margin was one of the largest in state history, but nowhere near a record. Jennifer Kupcho, who just finished second individually in the Women’s NCAA Finals for Wake Forest, won her two 4A state titles, in 2014 and ’15, by 14 and 10 shots, respectively.

On Tuesday, Schalk was on track to go where very few girls competitors in Colorado have gone before at state. She was 8 under par through 26 holes before giving five back to par in her final 10 holes in windy conditions.

Schalk finished seven shots ahead of runner-up Charlotte Hillary of Kent Denver, winner of the JGAC Junior Tour Championship last fall. Hillary made a 15-foot birdie on her final hole to close with a 72 on Tuesday.

Teammates Caroline Jordaan (75 Tuesday) and Cassie Kneen (76) shared third place at 147, leading Colorado Academy to its fourth state title since 2007. And, of course, CA will go down as the first 3A girls state high school golf team champion in Colorado.

“There’s only one time to be first,” noted Beth Folsom, who has coached Colorado Academy to all four of its state titles. “That will be something we can always look back on.”

With CA shooting its best team score of the season in round 1 — a 2-over-par 215 — it ended up finishing 28 strokes ahead of runner-up Holy Family. The Colorado Academy seniors went third, second and first twice at state in their high school careers.

“It’s always fun” winning state, Folsom said. “It was a goal obviously from the beginning of the year because they had won last year (in 4A).”

Colorado Academy ended up putting all four of its players in the top 10 individually, with Caroline Jordaan and Kneen tying for third, Marie Jordaan placing seventh and Trinity Goderstad 10th. (The team is pictured with its championship trophy.)

But no one could keep up with Schalk, who was playing less than a mile from her high school. She made 10 birdies in 36 holes, including eight on Monday, when she started the tournament with five conscutive birdies. A change in putters on the eve of the state meet worked wonders.

“Everything kind of came together for her (on Monday),” Matt Schalk said. “She’s been striking the ball great. And we decided to (switch putters) on Sunday night and it all worked. If she can get her putter working, she’s really such a good ball-striker, she’ll shoot some good numbers.”

Chitkoksoong Prevails in Playoff in 5A: Sophomore Amy Chitkoksoong (left) of Grandview, like Schalk a member of the 2016 CWGA Girls Junior America’s Cup team, won the 5A individual title after beating Highlands Ranch’s Jenna Chun on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff.

Both players tied at 10-over-par 154 on the formidable Club at Rolling Hills course in Golden. Chun vaulted up the leaderboard by shooting the best score of the tournament by three strokes, following up an 83 with a 1-under-par 71. Chitkoksoong, the 2015 Colorado Junior Match Play champion, posted a second-round 76, then overcame Chun in the playoff with a bogey on the third extra hole.

The left-hander has now finished second and first in her two state high school tournaments.

First-round leader Amelia Lee of Rock Canyon, who will play her college golf at Creighton, placed third at 155 after an 80 on Tuesday.

Ralston Valley rallied to claim its first state team title in girls golf, thanks largely to a 13-over-par 229 on Tuesday. Rock Canyon was nine back to take second.

Lehigh Overcomes Loveland Teammate for 4A Title: Sophomore Lauren Lehigh fended off Loveland teammate Aili Bundy and Glenwood Springs’ Lauren Murphy to earn the 4A individual championship at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.

Lehigh, the first-round leader, posted an 8-over-par 152 total after a 79 on Tuesday. Bundy, with whom Lehigh qualified for the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball (though they didn’t end up playing in the national tournament), finished one back following a 75. Also at 153 was Murphy, who closed with a 78.

With Lehigh and Bundy going 1-2 individually, it’s not surprising that Loveland ran away with the state team title — the school’s first in girls golf. The Indians finished at 26-over-par 475, 27 better than runner-up Windsor.

For scores from the state tournaments, click on the following: 5A, 4A, 3A.

It’s hard to imagine starting a state high school tournament career on a higher note.

Holy Family freshman Hailey Schalk made birdie on each of her first five holes Monday — and eight for her round — in shooting a career-best 6-under-par 65 at the Broomfield-based Broadlands Golf Course, which happens to be less than a mile from her school.

That gives Schalk, who won the Colorado Junior Match Play championship last summer, a whopping six-stroke lead heading into Tuesday’s final round’s of the 3A girls state high school tournament.

Schalk, who shot the 65 despite a final-hole bogey, changed putters on the eve of the state tournament and it obviously worked wonders.

“She has been striking the ball well, but she’s struggled putting the last couple weeks,” her dad and Holy Family coach Matt Schalk told BoCoPreps.com. Matt Schalk is a PGA professional and the general manager at Colorado National Golf Club.

Cassie Kneen of Colorado Academy holds down second place at 71.

With four players in the top six overall, it should come as no surprise that Kneen’s CA team — the 2016 4A state champions — holds a huge lead. With a 2-over-par total, the school is 23 ahead of Holy Family.

This marks the first year for the 3A state tournament.

5A Tournament at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden: Facing a formidable test on the greens at Rolling Hills, no player broke 75 on the first day of the 5A state meet.

Senior Amelia Lee (pictured) of Rock Canyon handled the course the best on Monday, making a 2-foot birdie putt on her final hole and shooting a 3-over-par 75, which gives her a one-stroke lead. She made three birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey in round 1.

“There were definitely some rough holes out there and the greens weren’t that easy either,” Lee said. “I had a 5-foot putt that ended up an 11-foot putt. That was kind of rough. But overall I love this course and it’s a lot of fun playing with the girls, as always.”

Lee finished 11th in the state tournament as a sophomore and 17th last year.

“This year is to redeem myself,” said Lee, who has signed to play her college golf at Creighton University.

Julia Baroth of Denver East and Payton Canon of Chery Creek share second place at 76. Sophomore Amy Chitkoksoong of Grandview, last year’s 5A runner-up, posted a 78.

“For a state course, I think it was tough but fair,” said Chitkoksoong, the 2015 Colorado Junior Match Play champion. “I was just trying to survive out there today.”

Rock Canyon, at 24 over par, holds a five-stroke lead over Ralston Valley in the team competition.

4A Tournament at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie: Lauren Lehigh of Loveland, who tied for ninth in the 5A state tournament last year, holds down the top spot in the 4A tournament after Monday’s opening round.

Lehigh, who birdied her first two holes, made four birdies overall and shot a 1-over-par 73. That’s good for a two-stroke lead over Lauren Murphy of Glenwood Springs and Sydney Prey of Golden, who placed seventh at state last year.

Lehigh’s Loveland squad built a formidable 18-stroke lead over Windsor in the team standings.

For scores from the state tournaments, click on the following: 3A, 4A, 5A.

Literally.

Two of them, in fact.

Southard, the golf operations manager for the city of Loveland, is not only a local expert regarding pace-of-play issues, but a national one. He teaches a seminar on the subject each year at the national Golf Industry Show. Last week, he conducted a USGA webcast for a group in Montana. And next week he’ll be in Oregon to teach a USGA seminar that’s attended by golf professionals, general managers, course owners and superintendents.

And, of course, there are those books: Mastering Pace of Play While Maximizing Revenue (2010) and Golf: The Complete Guide to Mastering Pace of Play (2013).

Suffice it to say that Southard is a man on a pace-of-play mission.

“Here’s what’s funny: This is so important to our customers, but somehow our industry has dropped the ball on this topic,” Southard said by phone on Monday.

But if Southard has anything to do about it — and he undoubtedly will — that will change.

Since moving to Colorado about eight years ago — and becoming the golf operations manager four years ago — Southard has implemented what he preaches at Loveland’s three golf courses, most notably Mariana Butte and the Olde Course at Loveland.

The result, he said, are midday weekend rounds that average 40 minutes less than they did prior to his tenure, with the norm during those busy times now being about 4 hours, 35 minutes at Mariana Butte and 4:20 at the Olde Course.

Where the Loveland courses used to issue 8-12 rain checks each weekend to people upset with long rounds and slow play, they now issue a very small percentage of that number.

“It used to be really bad. It was embarrassing to drive around the course on the weekend,” said Southard, who cut his teeth as a course superintendent.

How important is this issue to Southard? He estimates he spends 400-500 hours a year working on it, mostly on a voluntary basis. He has seen a dearth of effective strategic information on the topic — be it books, manuals or sharing of best practices — so he’s doing what he can to fill some of the void.

Though Southard doesn’t think USGA efforts such as “Tee It Forward” and “While We’re Young” get to the crux of the issue, he at least credits the association for being one of the first major golf organizations to truly champion a cause which addresses an issue that so aggravates many golfers. (Note: The PGA of America joined with the USGA to launch “Tee It Forward.”)

Southard believes current efforts to speed up the flow of play focus far too little on course operations.

“There’s a lot of things course (management) can control, but one thing we can’t control very well is the golfer,” he said.

For instance, one thing Southard calls “the lowest hanging fruit” in reducing round times is eliminating a widely held practice of having a beverage cart move around the course against the direction of play, stopping groups as it goes. Far less disruptive, he said, is having a parked beverage cart at key junctures of the front and back nine — and never on a par-3.

“We’re the knuckleheads if we can’t see how (beverage carts working backward through the course) affects the flow of play,” said Southard, who estimates that change alone can reduce round times on busy days by 20 minutes.

A key in effectively managing the flow of players around a course is to identify the two or three bottlenecks that cause backups and effectively deal with them, Southard indicated. Par-5s reachable in two or long par-3s often present problems in that regard.

“Pace of play boils down to how long it takes people to leave a hole, on average,” Southard said.

Many of the things that bottleneck play can be controlled from a golf operations standpoint — for instance, not having that beverage cart hanging out on a par-3, a cart-path-only policy on a given hole, a problematic bunker or other hazard on a hole, even a poorly situated restroom or water jug, plus more obvious things like hole location and length. So by making some adjustments, those average hole exit times can be reduced. And saving 30 seconds per group on a given hole can make the difference between continuous flow and constant logjams, even with tee-time intervals from 8-9 minutes.

Besides the beverage cart operations, Southard said another key to reducing round times during busy periods is effectively customizing the tee-time set-up. In other words, don’t have the same tee-time intervals all day or even weekdays vs. weekends.

In the morning, when play is moving faster, the tee times can be tighter. And in the afternoon, when play slows down, spread out the intervals. At Mariana Butte, for instance, Southard said the course will sometimes alternate between seven- and eight-minute tee times in the morning, then lengthen the interval to nine minutes in the middle of the day.

“The industry (generally speaking) does the opposite,” he said. “They’ll have starter times (a tee time purposely unused) in the morning when people are playing faster, then they’ll stop having starter times at 11 or so. So they’ll have fewer (filled) tee times when people are playing faster and more (filled) tee times when people are playing slower.

“Every course in America would be better off (customizing tee-time intervals on busy days). But it’s hard to change the way things have always been done.”

But golfers also need to be trained on having reasonable expectations regarding pace of play, perhaps by an organization such as the USGA, Southard said. For instance, he noted that in a survey Loveland conducted last year, 62 percent of respondents said they should never have to wait on a shot if the pace of play is pretty good.

But, as Southard points out, if golfers are riding in a cart at peak play times, “you’re going to wait (to hit shots into greens). The second part of a hole takes longer to play than the first. That you have to wait in the fairway doesn’t (necessarily) mean slow play. There’s an amount of wait time that’s acceptable.

“There’s a perception that any waiting is slow play. A lot of golfers are just unrealistic about pace of play.”

And, of course, what might be a good pace of play in the middle of a busy day wouldn’t be acceptable in the early morning. So it isn’t realistic — or make much sense — for a course to pin itself down to a certain expectation for length of rounds regardless of the time of day.

Southard became passionate about pace-of-play matters as a general manager and part-owner of a course in Michigan.

“Where I’m from, the season is very short, and you sweat it out in the winters when there’s no customers,” he said. “So you want to maximize the number of people on the course (during the playing season). That means you need to improve the flow of golfers (on the course). That’s kind of a win-win.”