Pack recruit Park wins Colorado Stroke Play title

Portions of this report taken from Colorado Golf Association website (http://www.cogolf.org/iframeres.php?URL=uploads/10cga/10bsp.html)

CSU-Pueblo 2010 recruit and Overland High School graduate, Jonathan Park (Fr./Aurora, Colo.), emerged victorious at the Colorado Golf Association Junior Stroke Play Championship, which took place June 14-16.

Park shot a +6 222, including an even par 72 in the final round, to claim the win at the event and the Country Club at Castle Pines.

Park, duelling with runner-up Cody Kent, was in the middle of three lead changes throughout the final round.  He trailed by two strokes with four holes to play, but used a hot putter to emerge the champion.

"This feels really great with this being my last year and everything," said Park. "I finished strong."

Park finished third and fourth in the last two 5A state high school meets, and he was fourth a year ago in the Junior Stroke Play.

Park can thank his putter for keeping his chances alive. He overtook Kent and built a two-stroke lead by making four birdies in his first seven holes Wednesday. That included holing a 40-footer on No. 3. And on the back nine, he one-putted five times, and sank two 12-foot putts and a 7-footer.

After being two down with four left, Kent missed a 2½-foot par putt on 15, Park birdied from 3 feet on 16, and Park got up and down on 17 while Kent didn't.

Kent said he mis-clubbed on the short par-3 17th, flying the green. Park, meanwhile, spun his tee shot off the front fringe and down a hill. Kent faced the much tougher pitch, and couldn't save par, but Park made a 7-foot par putt that ended up being the difference between the two.

"This means a lot to me," Park said. "I felt a lot of pressure on the last three holes, like I better do something."

No one in the field came close to matching or bettering par for the three-round event, but Park said the difficult scoring conditions helped his cause.

"The course was playing pretty tough," he noted. "Playing a more difficult course tests you, but I just sort of hung in there and pulled through."

Park was a highly-touted high school recruit coming out of Overland, and CSU-Pueblo men's golf coach, Josh Koschke, says the addition of Park to the ThunderWolves' squad will immediately raise the program's profile.

"He's going to be a huge pickup for us," Koschke said.  "He has the potential to be an All-American and a national champion, and I'm proud of him for getting this huge win."