Skyline's Tatman finishes in top-10 in state golf

LONE TREE — Skyline’s Mikayla Tatman was disappointed after the first day of the Class 5A state girls golf tournament Monday.

After Tuesday’s awards ceremony, Tatman felt better.

The Falcons’ senior followed Monday’s 78 with a 10-over-par 82 on rainsoaked Lone Tree Golf Club on Tuesday. She finished the two-day tournament with a 16-over par 160 and tied with Chatfield’s Shannon Lubar for seventh place. Tatman wanted a top-10 finish. Mission accomplished.

“It feels great to get tied for seventh,” said Tatman, who will play for Colorado State in the fall. “My goal this season was to place top-10 at state and I did that. The scores

weren’t exactly what I wanted, but I put myself in contention to win. I did what I could and I came out with a great finish.” Skyline teammate Gina Larson, who tied for fifth last season, shot a 90 on Tuesday, dropping into a six-way tie for 22nd, at 173.Steady rain and thunderstorms led to 3 1 / 2 total hours of play stoppage over two days and made the par-72 course unforgiving to most.

SeungHa Choi from Overland won the individual title with a 7-over 151. Cherry Creek won the team title with a combined 43-over 475.

Tatman, who was in Choi’s group, parred 11 holes Tuesday. Hitting just three fairways off the tee, she triple-bogeyed the third hole, double-bogeyed the 16th and bogeyed five others.

“If you look at my stats, 82 seems like a pretty solid number,” said Tatman, who parred seven of her first nine holes. “My putting was pretty good today but I couldn’t hold it together.” Preparing to play next season for the University of Colorado, Larson has been struggling to adjust to a new swing. Tuesday’s 18-over 90 was the senior’s worst score in five years, she said.

Larson quadruple-bogeyed the sixth and doublebogeyed the fifth and 12th.

But she did come back to birdie the 16th hole, which she quadruple-bogeyed the day before.

Larson has struggled down the stretch of the season since shooting a 2-over 76 during the Northern Conference Championships at Pelican Lakes Golf Course.

If she has to experience growing pains, she’d rather it be now.

“It’s bad because this season didn’t go well, but it’s good because I’d rather have it done before I get to college golf,” Larson said. “Ultimately, what matters to me is college golf and the professional tour.

“It takes an incredible mentality to get through it, especially when you go from being around the mid-to-low 70s to shooting a 90 as a senior, not knowing where it came from.” Both Tatman and Larson always have high expectations for themselves. But after her first state tournament as Falcons head coach, Valerie Brown wasn’t nearly as disappointed as they were.

“I don’t think that, with the whole situation with the weather and everything, anyone played the way they thought they were gonna play,” Brown said.

Brown also had some parting words for the dynamic Falcons senior duo.

“I think they’re so lucky and they have such major talent, the two of them, that we’re just gonna be awed by what they do when they get to college,” Brown said. “I that they really realize that.” One bound for CU, the other for CSU, Larson and Tatman will go from team­mates to rivals over the summer. But that won’t change much between them.

“Yeah, we’re rivals now, but we’ll continue to be great friends,” Tatman said.

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Brad Cochi can be reached at bcochi@times-call.com.