RIDGEFIELD — Graham Moody became a district champion on Tuesday, although it was hard to tell from his subdued post-tournament demeanor.
But the Mountain View sophomore and defending Class 3A state champion expects a lot from himself on the golf course.
“Yesterday, I was really proud of how I played,” Moody said. “I handled the conditions really well. But today … I mean it’s really cool to win the district individual and team titles for the school. But looking back at this round (Tuesday), I definitely learned a lot about not letting things bother me so much.”
Moody shot a 1-under-par 71 in Monday’s first round in a steady rain. But in Tuesday’s drier conditions, he carded a 4-over 76 at Tri-Mountain Golf Course.
Still, his 147 was good enough for a three-shot victory over teammate Willie Yeh at the 3A boys district tournament.
“I missed like a really short putt on 3, and I kind of let it affect my mental approach,” Moody said. “I kind of lost the trust I had in my putting that I had yesterday. I don’t think I missed a short putt yesterday. … I also missed a short putt on 15. Those were two bogeys on holes I wouldn’t expect to bogey.”
His teammate Yeh also was left with some what-ifs.
Yeh, the defending 3A district champion, also left shots on the course, particularly a lost ball on No. 18, which led to a double-bogey.
“My putting wasn’t nearly as good today,” Yeh said. “But everything else, I felt like I improved on. Today was one of those kind of days where I felt like I played better than my score reflected, because of the lost ball. That’s like two strokes right there.
“There’s a lot of ifs and could’ves, but second place — I lost to a very tough opponent and teammate, so I’m OK with that. I just hope this motivates me to be better at bi-district and state.”
Yeh pointed out that the new team format of qualifying for state changed the feel of the district tournament.
In past years, the top players from district would advance directly to state next spring.
But this year, the entire Mountain View team (639) — along with second-place Prairie (688) and third-place Evergreen (698) — advance to the bi-district tournament next spring, where the entire team will attempt to advance to state, along with individual players.
Prairie’s Cam Beeson was third at 157, with Mountain View’s Tyler Klepec (165) and Evergreen’s Forest Fearington (166) rounding out the top five.
