LITTLETON — By the middle of Tuesday’s final round of the Class 5A girls state tournament, the only challenge for Littleton High School senior Becca Huffer was whatever she could create for herself.
With a lead fast approaching double digits, her second state title was all but in the bag, barring total collapse. But instead of cruising in with pars, Huffer set her sights on the scoring standard she set in winning the 2006 state tournament as a sophomore.
Alas, despite tying her career-best single-round score — a 5-under-par 67 — Huffer fell just short of matching her 36-hole total from two years ago, 6 under par. Shy of that, however, it was a stellar day for the Notre Dame-bound golfer.
Huffer won the 5A tournament by a whopping 13 strokes and became just the fifth girl in Colorado history to win the state high school golf championship at least twice. Previously pulling off the feat were Columbine’s Jennifer McCormick, Skyline’s Kelly Jacques and three-time champions Lynn Ann Moretto of Cherry Creek and Ashley Tait of Mullen.
“That’s fun. I like it,” Huffer said of joining those ranks. “I’m glad I was able to do it twice.”
With a 5-under-par 139 total, Huffer finished 13 shots ahead of Loveland junior Bethany Buchner and Grand Junction Central senior Melissa Martin, both of whom also tied for second place last year. Both Martin and Buchner closed with 75s.
As with the individual competition, the battle for the team championship was one-sided, with Highlands Ranch (468 total) winning by 34 shots over Cherry Creek. Highlands Ranch put two players in the top five individually: Jamie Engelkemier (75-153) was fourth and Robin Lee (77-154) was fifth.
The only player to even remotely challenge Huffer on Tuesday was defending champion Brooke Collins of Monarch. She birdied two of the first four holes to close the gap against Huffer to three, but six straight bogeys quickly ended the threat. The University of Oklahoma-bound Collins ended her high school career with an 8-over-par 80, leaving her at 157 overall and with a share of sixth place. She placed in the top six at state in all of her four years of high school.
“It just got frustrating,” Collins said. “I didn’t have confidence in my putter, and that put more pressure on the rest of my game to try to get the ball close. It just wasn’t there this week.
“Becca did a great job. She did what she had to do.”
After three-putting the first hole for bogey on Tuesday, Huffer was almost flawless, making six birdies and no more bogeys. The 67 matched the career best she established earlier this season in winning the Birleffi Invitational at Boomerang Golf Links in Greeley.
“Both of my (state titles) were fun, but with this being my senior year, I wanted to go out with a bang,” Huffer said.
“I had been playing well and I wanted to shoot under par and thought I could. Today everything worked out for me.”
