Indians' best struggles

GOLDEN - The look on Justine Kemp's face at the beginning and end of Tuesday's final round of the 4A state girls golf tournament at Rolling Hills Country Club told you all you needed to know about her day.

   The Cheyenne Mountain junior's game had let her down at the worst time.

   "I cannot believe I played this badly," she said after a second-round 94 dropped her out of contention for a medal and into 23rd.

"That's why golf is golf."

   Cheyenne Mountain coach Bill Paulson said the Kemp who he saw on the course the past two days wasn't the same player who won the Colorado Springs regional two weeks earlier.

   "The thing about her this year is that's she been so consistent," Paulson said. "Today - yesterday as well - she was consistently inconsistent, which wasn't like her."

   Only the top 10 golfers medal at state, and Kemp was in contention entering the final round. Her opening-round 91 left her three shots back of 10th and a possible medal. But after shooting 3-over on the first two holes, including the par-5, 516-yard first - the longest hole on the course - her chances were dwindling quickly.

   Things did get better on No. 3 thanks to an eagle on the 368-yard par 4, but that wasn't nearly enough to make up the ground she lost on the first two holes.

   "That was definitely her goal (to make top 10), that was her goal coming into this tournament," Paulson said. "And she's got the game to do it, but unfortunately she had two tough days, two inconsistent days. Golf can be a really humbling game."

   It certainly was Tuesday.

   Kemp, who finished tied for 25th a year ago with a 184, didn't play much worse, from a scoring standpoint, this time around. But if you were to ask her, this year's performance wasn't nearly as strong.

   Though she battled back with pars on Nos. 8, 10, 15 and 16, her collapses on Nos. 1, 2 and 18 cost her a shot at the top 10. On those three holes, she was 10-over.

   Colorado Academy's Elizabeth Kresock fired a 2-under-par 71 on the 5,809-yard course to win the individual championship, the first in school history.

   Colorado Academy won its second consecutive team title.

   Cheyenne Mountain finished 11th with 609 points.

   The best performance on Day 2 from an area golfer was by St. Mary's Kara Sullivan.

   The first state qualifier in school history, Sullivan bounced back from her opening-round 104 to shoot an 86 and finish with a two-day total 190, which tied for 28th.