A special season for Washington Demon junior Roman Roth ended with him atop the mountain in Iowa high school golf. Roth won the individual Class 3A state championship yesterday after completing the second round of the state tournament at Veenker Memorial Golf Course in Ames.
Roth, who wins his seventh tournament of the season and adds to sectional and district titles, started things with a strong first round on Monday. Three straight birdies on holes three through five offset a trio of bogeys and allowed Roth to card an even-par 36 on the front nine, and while two double-bogeys followed an eagle at the tenth, Roth still picked up another pair of birdies and only bogeyed once more to close out the first round with a one-over-par 73.
But Roth would save his best for last. After starting Tuesday with back-to-back bogeys, Roth birdied the third, the seventh and the ninth to head to the back nine one under. Another eagle at the tenth and a birdie on the 17th more than made up for two more bogeys, as Roth finished with a two-under 70 for the day and was a total of one-under for the tournament.
Roth would end up as the only player in the 3A field to finish with a total under par and one of only two to shoot a round in red figures, finishing eight strokes ahead of second-place Davis Korver of MOC-Floyd Valley. Afterwards, Roth described his play to KCII Sports.
“I think the par-fives really helped me this week,” Roth said. “Par-threes I kind of struggled with, but later on, down the stretch, I started playing a little better.”
After a top-10 finish last year, Roth becomes just the third Washington boys’ golfer to medal at state. He also joins three-time state champ Sarah Nacos as golfers to win a title while representing the Demons.