Hunter Paugh fired a 4-under-par 67 on Monday and grabbed the first-round lead in the Class 5A state tournament at Fort Collins Country Club.
Fort Collins’ Paugh leads four other golfers by four shots: his teammate, A.J. Ott, Griffin Barela of Lakewood, Austin Hardman of Mountain Vista and Andrew McCormick of Regis Jesuit were at even par in the opening round.
It’s a tight leaderboard — 18 players are within seven strokes of Paugh, including 11 who shot 3-over 74s.
Teamwise, Lakewood and ever-present Regis Jesuit are tied at 219 (6-over), followed by Fossil Ridge (221) and Coronado (223).
In the Class 4A tournament at Fox Hill Country Club in Longmont, Philip Lee shot a 3-under 67 to make the first round virtually all about Valor Christian. Lee and teammate Tim Amundson (1-under 69) sit atop the leaderboard. They were the only players to break par Monday.
Silver Creek’s Jackson Solem and Windsor’s Cole Krantz shot even par; Valor’s Coby Welch was at 71.
The Eagles opened with a torrid 3-under 207 total, 18 shots clear of Evergreen.
In the Class 3A tournament, Peak to Peak’s first round was solid — teammates Nishant Datta and Sam Taylor shot even-par 72s and lead by three strokes at Eagle Ranch Golf Club in Eagle. The Pumas shot a 6-over 222 total, leading Kent Denver by 10 strokes among teams.
Final rounds are Tuesday; there will be a medalist and team state champions honored at each site.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or @neildevlin
