RIDGEFIELD — The momentum was going the other way, and Union junior Alistair Docherty was just trying to hold on to his slim lead at the Class 4A District 4 boys golf tournament Wednesday afternoon at Tri-Mountain Golf Course.
With his ball in the bunker at the 17th hole, and his closest competitor already on the green in regulation, the next few moments would end up deciding the championship.
Docherty blasted his sand shot to within six feet of the hole, then drained the downhill putt for a par.
His opponent, Garrett Kooistra, a junior from Skyview who had played flawless through the first 16 holes, ended up three-putting from 40 feet, falling two strokes behind Docherty.
Kooistra finished with a flurry, a long birdie putt on 18 for a tournament-low round of 2-under-par 70, but Docherty’s two-putt par was enough for a one-stroke victory. Docherty followed up his 72 on Tuesday with a 71 on Wednesday for his first district championship.
About an hour later, his close friend, Prairie’s Tanner Maahs, claimed the Class 3A district title.
Maahs, a senior, recorded rounds of 73 and 78 for a 151 total, two shots better than Mountain View sophomore Taylor Smith.
Camas, meanwhile, had three golfers — Ben Gibson, Cosmo Peng, and Braedon Campbell — in the top six, leading the Papermakers to the team title, based on points. Union had claimed the 4A title, based on strokes, the previous day.
The individual title in the 4A tournament came down to those final two holes.
Kooistra opened the final round with 12 consecutive pars, then had birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 to pull within a stroke of Docherty.
“It’s fun, it gets you going, and you take everything seriously,” Kooistra said of the atmosphere of playing in the final group of a big tournament. “You’re mostly trying to focus on your game and not his game.”
That is tough to do, however, when keeping score for your playing partner — the guy in first place,
Kooistra came close, but Docherty’s tricky little putt to save par on 17 turned out to be the difference.
“That one was special,” Docherty said. “I knew that was the putt that changed the momentum my way. It definitely gave me a whole lot more confidence going into the last hole.”
Docherty began the day tied for the lead with teammate Andrew Spicer. They were not in the same group, but word had spread to Docherty by the 17th tee box that it was a two-man battle for district. Spicer ended up third, two strokes out of first place.
Docherty led after the first round last year, as well, but struggled with the worst round of his season on Day 2. That did not happen this year.
“I just wanted to stick to my game plan, hit a lot of greens and two-putt every hole,” he said. “I knew I’d have to get one or two birdies to get it done.”
He ended up with one, and that was enough in his bogey-free round.
“This was my goal the entire year,” Docherty said. “Now it means I have to do something at state. That’s the next step.”
Allocations for the state tournaments will not be determined until April. As district champions, Docherty and Maahs know they are going to state, and surely the runners-up will be, as well. But nothing is official.
The top two-thirds of the allotment from District 4 will go directly to state. The bottom third will have to play in a bi-district tournament in May.
Maahs, who led by three after the first round, was up four at the turn in the second round.
“I kind of used it to be a little more conservative,” Maahs said. “It ended up hurting me. I ended up leaving myself long putts, and I wasn’t putting very well.”
He said he would have preferred a better score, but a championship is still a championship.
“It’s great. It’s an honor. My dad and mom got me into this game, and it’s a game I’ll have for the rest of my life,” Maahs said. “It’s a bonus to win a tournament like this.”
Smith followed his 76 with a 77 to finish second. A year ago, he was the No. 9 golfer on the Mountain View team, playing golf for the first time. Now, he’s the second-best golfer in the district.
“I just played a bunch,” Smith said. “I knew I improved a lot, but I didn’t know I improved this much. It happened.”
Gibson of Camas finished third, Eric Sjogren of Columbia River was fourth, and Peng of Camas rounded out the top five in the 3A tournament.
Conner Nash of Skyview and Ian Spicer of Union rounded out the top five in the 4A tournament.
