High school golf: Fremont's Fishburn leads 5A tournament

LAYTON — Patrick Fishburn, a junior at Fremont High and one of the state's top junior golfers, has shot plenty of 67s in his young life.

But the 5-under 67 he posted Monday at the 5A state golf championships at Valley View golf course — in cold, rain, wind and snow — ranks right up there with his best rounds ever. It also gives him a three-stroke medalist lead heading into today's final 18 holes.

"You just have to keep plugging along in conditions like that and remember that everyone else is out there playing in that stuff also," Fishburn said.

The conditions were so challenging Monday that only eight golfers shot under 75. More than half the field shot 80 or higher. At one point in Monday's first round play was delayed for about 20 minutes when snow flurries made it too difficult to see or putt.

"When I first started I was just trying to make pars the way things were, but when I finally made a birdie that just got me going," Fishburn said.

After a bogey on No. 3 to go 1-over par, Fishburn birdied five of the next seven holes. He added birdies on No. 13 and No. 14 to get to 6-under par... He stumbled briefly with a bogey on No. 15 before finishing with three straight pars.

"I got a couple of good breaks and just made every putt that I should make," he said.

As good as Fishburn's round was, it wasn't enough for the Silverwolves to take the first-round lead. That honor goes to the Syracuse Titans, who had three players shoot 74 or under and another post a 77 en route to a first-round score of 295. The Titans, who finished second behind Fremont in Region 1, lead the Silverwolves (298) by three and defending champion Lone Peak (299) by four. The closest teams after those top three are Layton and Cottonwood, both 15 shots behind. Davis came in at 312 and Viewmont at 316. Also making the team cut were Brighton (322), Riverton (325), Skyline (326) and Murray (326).

Fishburn's challengers in the medalist race are Syracuse's Colton Ogden and Cottonwood's Tanner Tregeagle, who each shot an impressive 2-under 70. Lone Peak's Joe Parkinson shot 71, as did Layton's Brandon Kida.

Also within striking distance are Syracuse's Colton Dallimoro (73) and Devon Purser (74), Fremont's Cody Waas (74), Murray's Jake Price (75), Davis' Brian White (75) and Alta's Kenny You (75). Defending medalist Garrett Fotu of Lone Peak opened with a 77.

"There's a lot of good competition and a lot of good teams this year," Fishburn said. "But it would be as good as it gets to win the team title and maybe the medalist as well."