St. Mary's Cornella wins second place again

TRINIDAD • Andrew Cornella saw the door close on his chance to improve upon last year’s second-place finish in the Class 3A state golf championship on the final hole.

Cornella, representing St. Mary’s, fell by one stroke to Peter Hassan of Alexander Dawson after trailing by as many as seven at Cougar Canyon Golf Resort on Tuesday.

“(On 18) with the kid being in the bunker, I thought at the very least we’re going to a playoff,” St. Mary’s coach Bill Percy said. “With what he would have to consider the shot of his life, (Hassan got) within five feet of the cup. Out of the bunker, it was a phenomenal pressure shot.”

“It’s like a TV moment, it’s just an awesome shot,” Cornella said after posting a 12-over 156 total with a 77 Tuesday. “That closed the door pretty much.”

Cornella is not about to rest on his second-place laurels.

“I remember Tiger (Woods) saying second place is the first loser, that’s kind of been my mentality,” Cornella said.

“I am satisfied to the point that I was down at one point by seven shots and I lost by one, but it’s overshadowed by second place. It’s not a nice feeling.”

Tyler Hunt of Manitou Springs finished tied for fourth after posting the only sub-par round (71) of the tournament, putting him at 163 overall.

Cornella and his coach are looking to the future.

“I guess next year’s another year for me,” said Cornella, a junior. “I have one more chance and I’m going to work about 25 times harder, and I worked pretty hard this year.”

“He’s been on the doorstep for two years, knocking on the door,” Percy said. “I don’t seen any reason why he can’t win a state championship in his senior year.”

As a team St. Mary’s finished tied for sixth with 534 strokes while Kent Denver took first with 488, topping second-place host Trinidad by 22 strokes. Colorado Springs Christian tied for ninth with 551.

Micah Mathis of The Classical Academy improved his first-round score by nine strokes to finish tied for 14th with 169.