High school golf: Park City, Burrus lead the way after Day 1 of 3A golf tournament

WEST POINT — The game of golf requires one trait above all else —consistency. Without the proper rhythm, it's nearly impossible to finish a round without spending most of your time on the beach and/or breaking clubs in frustration.

On Wednesday at Schneiter's Bluff Golf Course, Park City operated with this type of cohesion, as five of the Miners' six players shot in the 70s, forming a strong foundation for a second straight 3A title despite losing last year's top two golfers to graduation.

"(Winning a championship) is our goal every year. I don't know why we (would) start a season not wanting to win a state championship," said Park City coach George Murphy. "We had some kids step up that knew they had bring their game to a higher level, and they did that."

Winning back-to-back titles is a difficult task in any classification or sport. And with Judge Memorial trailing the champs by a pint-sized margin of five strokes, the Miners are fully aware that today's final round is shaping up to be an old-fashioned shootout.

"We've got our work cut out (for us) tomorrow, (the players need) to come out (today) and do the same things," stated Murphy.

After the first day of play, 10 teams advanced to today's final round, which will begin at 9 a.m., out of the original 16-team field, along with any player who came within 10 strokes of the individual leader. Brady Wellburn of Juab, who had a first-round score of 80, was the only golfer who qualified for the second day individually.

In the midst of a tight team battle, two players solidified themselves as frontrunners for the individual medalist honor — Park City's Jack Burrus, who dropped a low score of 71, and Judge Memorial's Chris Turner, who currently finds himself two strokes off the pace.

That could easily explain why both of their teams are atop the leaderboard heading into today.

"I played pretty well; I really hit my stride in these last three tournaments," said Burrus, "I'm really stoked that I took the low — state is a big deal and I was able to pull through."

Burrus was able to drill four-straight par putts on consecutive holes to start the day. He would eventually sink a birdie to move to one-under midway through the round. He then proceeded to see-saw back and forth between bogeys and birdies and would ultimately remain under par for the first day.

"Pin placements were tough today," stated Burrus, "They were stickin' them on ridges and my ball was rollin' off, leaving me with those four- and five-foot putts that are really nerve racking."

Although the ideal situation for Burrus is to capture both the individual and team titles, he says he's much more concerned with the race for the team championship. Luckily, both are well within reach.

"I'd rather have the team (championship). That benefits more than one person. It'd be selfish if I were to say I'd rather have the single medal," said Burrus.

e-mail: tphibbs@desnews.com