Symons Prevails in All-CU Match Play Final

Buff junior rallies past fellow ThunderRidge alum Tolan

By Gary Baines

Colorado Golf Journal, Friday, July 11, 2008

Runner-up Derek Tolan

match. In fact, it wasn’t until the 13th hole of the afternoon round that Symons grabbed his first lead.

     Tolan held a 3-up margin after 17 holes -- despite Symons making six straight birdies for the second consecutive round -- and was 2 up through 24 holes. Symons evened the match two holes later after a birdie on No. 7, followed by a 3-foot eagle on the par-5 eighth. Symons took the upper hand for the first time when Tolan failed to get up and down for a par on the 31st hole of the match.

     After Tolan made a two-putt birdie on No. 15 of the afternoon round, Symons kept his lead with a 15-foot birdie of his own. On the next hole, the par-4 16th, with both players sticking their approach shots 5 feet from the pin, Symons drained his putt after Tolan missed, giving the younger player a 2-up margin. And Symons ended the match on No. 17 with a two-putt par after Tolan had lipped out his 15-foot birdie attempt.

     While Symons and Tolan are teammates and housemates, you wouldn’t have known it by their demeanor during Friday’s match.

     “There was a lot of joking around (Thursday) night, but once the match started, we had our game faces on,“  Tolan said.  “There was nothing given, nothing taken.”

    With the victory, the 20-year-old Symons earned the biggest title of his career. He won the CGA Western Chapter championship last year and was in contention recently to capture the San Juan Open -- a tournament field made up mainly of pros -- but he went backward on the final day and finished sixth.

  “This is a relief,”  Symons said. “It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I’ve put myself in position (to win), but a lot of times I haven’t capitalized. Hopefully I can build from this.”

     Friday marked the sixth time two active CU golfers have battled it out in the State Match Play final. Two winners of such matches -- Hale Irwin (1966) and Steve Jones (1980) -- have gone on to win the U.S. Open.

      Tolan is the only person to play in two of the head-to-head CU matchups in the title match, as he also lost a close finale in 2005, to Pat Grady. In all, this was Tolan’s 10th silver medal in CGA events, with his lone CGA individual victory coming last month in the State Publinks.

     “I’ve got my one,” he said with a smile.

CASTLE ROCK -- If there was any question, now we know two of the major reasons why ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch won so many consecutive boys state golf titles earlier this decade.

    Luke Symons and Derek Tolan squared off Friday in an all-ThunderRidge alum final of the Colorado Golf Association Match Play championship. No matter who won, ThunderRidge, the University of Colorado and a certain household in south Boulder would be proud.

     Symons, who not only is a  teammate of Tolan at CU but also lives in the same house, prevailed over his elder cohort 2 and 1 in Friday’s 36-hole final at Plum Creek Golf Club.

     “It is pretty funny,”   said Symons, a junior-to-be at CU who plays out of Aurora’s Valley Country Club.   “We came out here to play a practice round together on Sunday. Who would have thought we would both make the finals?”

     Perhaps longtime supporters of the ThunderRidge boys golf team. After all, the Grizzlies captured six straight 5A state titles from 2001 through ’06, and the first five of those came with Tolan and/or Symons on the team.

     Tolan, 22, has had the more accomplished golf career to this point -- playing in the U.S. Open at age 16, qualifying for eight other U.S. Golf Association championships and winning this year’s State Publinks title -- but a major state amateur title adds some gravitas to Symons’ resume.

    “I’ve always said I don’t think he gets enough credit for how good he is,”  said Tolan, who was trying to become the first player to win the State Publinks and the State Match Play in the same year.  “He shows great patience. That’s why I knew even when I was up (in Friday’s match) that he wasn’t going to lay down. He deserved (to win) something big. It was just a matter of time.”

     Both players were formidable in Friday’s final, with Symons finishing 9 under par for 35 holes and Tolan 7 under. But it was Tolan, a senior-to-be at CU, who had control for the most of the

CGA Match Play champion Luke Symons