Girls golf: Hickey takes home sickeningly sweet victory at Flatirons
May 1—While any illness would have knocked down even the best of athletes amid competition, the cold that Ava Hickey played her round through on Wednesday at Flatirons Golf Course didn't seem to faze her too much.
If anything, it played a key role in the Fairview senior's victory over her 84 competitors during the fourth Front Range League Match of the spring season. She shot an even-par 70 to carry her three strokes ahead of Brighton's Raleigh Puzio, who finished second.
"I think I just didn't come in with any expectations because I was just trying to get through the day," Hickey said. "I was just playing for fun, mostly. I could just swing a little more free."
Her first tournament victory of the season came just two weeks before regionals, where she'll likely pave yet another path for herself to the Class 5A state tournament the week after. At regionals, she hopes to shoot even or a couple of strokes over par.
Wednesday's performance was the perfect confidence booster down the home stretch.
"It all just kind of started to click a bit," Hickey said. "I've been working a lot on my course management and just picking good targets and stuff. I think that really helped today to just free me up and feel more confident as I stepped over the ball."
A new best mark
As soon as Hollyn Drennen sunk her last putt on the 16th hole, she turned to her coaches with a big smile, knowing she had accomplished something she'd never done before. The Erie senior finished her round shooting a 6-over-par 76 for her first sub-80 score in a tournament.
Head coach Brandon Bird, always prepared, brought out the team's green under-80 flag for her to sign on the hood of a golf cart through the chilling wind. That score landed her at fourth among the field of competitors in attendance.
"It kind of just shows the hard work you put in, and just what I've been working for and hopefully what's to come," Drennen said.
When Drennen first joined the program as a freshman, she consistently shot in the 100s. Since then, she's systematically dropped those scores lower and lower until they reached their acme on Wednesday afternoon.
She credited that drop off a cliff to consistent work on the greens and fairways but believes her mental game has played the biggest role in her final season with the Tigers. She showcased that fortitude on holes six and seven, when she double-bogeyed, then immediately shot par.
Now, Drennen is looking ahead toward regionals in a few weeks with an extra air of self-assurance.
"It's just a confidence booster for my game, as well, knowing I've always been on the brink," she said. "I've shot 81 and been there."
Short-circuited
The lighter environment of Wednesday's tournament made its rounds through several pairings, benefiting Broomfield junior Mia Huerta just as much as it did Hickey and Drennen.
Despite struggling with her long game, Huerta pulled it all together on the greens to tie for seventh with a 79. She led the Eagles to a fourth-place finish as a team behind two Fossil Ridge squads and Loveland.
Huerta, too, took the mental game out of the equation and just let it fly.
"I think I really just stayed out of my head this round and I just felt more consistent with everything," Huerta said. "I just had more fun than I usually have."
She and the rest of the Eagles will grace the nearby Broadlands for their regional, where she hopes to score somewhere in the 80s to put her in a good position heading into the final tournament.
"I'm just going to have fun at state," she said. "I want to just make good memories and just have fun with the team."
