Orozco is top 25 at state golf
KHS GOLFER Luciano Orozco tees off during his first round of the Class 4A state golf tournament. [Photo provided]
The third and final round of the Class 4A boys golf state tournament wasn’t going well for Luciano Orozco.
The Kingfisher High School sophomore bogeyed two of his first three holes Tuesday and had a stretch of three straight bogeys beginning with the fifth hole.
Then, to cap off the front-nine at the Shangri-La Golf Club & Resort, Orozco carded a quadruple-bogey on the ninth hole, putting him at 9-overpar at the turn.
“He could have just kept kicking himself while he was down early and easily could have ended up shooting a 91,” said KHS golf coach Derek Patterson.
But Orozco went the other direction.
After no birdies on the front, Orozco carded three of them on the back, including his final hole of the two-day, 54-hole tournament.
Orozco shot even-par on the back and 81 for the round.
Combined with Monday’s two rounds, Orozco shot a 235 for the tournament, putting him in a four-way tie for 25th place out of 75 golfers.
“His goal going into the week was top 30,” Patterson said. “Shooting the three rounds he did is a huge accomplishment for a sophomore.”
In Monday’s marathon of 36 holes, Orozco opened up with a 7-over-par 79.
He followed it up with a 75. Orozco was just 1-over-par going into his final hole of the day, which was No. 9 (he started on the back-nine for Monday’s rounds).
He double-bogeyed the hole for the second time on Monday. Combined with Tuesday’s score, he played the hole in 8-over-par over the three rounds.
Orozco played the rest of the 51 holes in 11-over.
Patterson called Monday’s rounds the two best that Orozco has played outside of his home course at Kingfi sher. He hit over 80 percent of the fairways and around 70 percent of greens in regulation.
“His putter was rolling very well, too,” Patterson said. “He made a lot of par putts from 8 to 10 feet and some big birdie putts as well.”
Early Tuesday was the opposite. “He missed some fairways, putting himself in tough position to get up and down for par,” Patterson said. “He really battled through that front-nine.
“He grinded it out through those ugly holes and played really well to finish.”
Plainview’s Jace Chaney was the individual state champ as he shot 212 over the three rounds, which was 4-under-par.
He was -7 through his first two rounds before finishing with a 75.
Crossings Christian’s Jackson Magness was the runner-up at 219.
Plainview also captured the team title. Its 901 was 14 strokes better than Oklahoma Christian School. Crossings Christian was one back of OCS.