Student Athlete of the Week Sawyer Bennett

Although challenging, Sawyer Bennett learned a lot about his golf game while navigating the monstrous RainDance National Resort & Golf in Windsor on Aug. 15.

The Niwot High School sophomore admitted that he was plagued by "careless mistakes" but he nonetheless held his head high after shooting a seven-over-par-72 on the longest course in North America. His 79 strokes placed him in a five-way tie for 10th individually at the Second Annual Resurrection Christian Invitational.

"It's a test of your abilities," Bennett said. "It's definitely the hardest course we'll play, so it kind of sets the standard. Yes, this should be your highest score of the year, and you just base it from there. I do think it's a confidence booster for most people. I didn't have a great score compared to all the other courses, but knowing it's super long and super hard, I was really happy with my score overall."

Niwot finished third out of 28 teams while the day's top two individual golfers - Fairview High School's Miles Kuhl and Fossil Ridge High School's Landon Houska - each shot 72.

Looking closer at Bennett's performance, his lone birdie came on the par-5 13th hole. The other 17 holes ended in 11 pars and six bogeys/double bogeys.

"The greens are super fast and there's a lot of hills," Bennett said. "It's easy to birdie, but it's a lot easier to triple (bogey), so that's kind of what I felt about the course. It's definitely a hard course."

Bennett's day also featured some poor luck. On multiple occasions, a shot of his knocked the pin and then bounced off the green, he said.

With his experience at RainDance now under his belt, Bennett hopes to finish out his sophomore year with a scoring average in the low to mid-70s. He hit that target earlier this month with a 75 at the Pace O'Play Palooza in Loveland despite carding a penalty-induced 10 on the 13th hole.

"He's going to be an interesting kid to watch this season because he can play," Niwot boys golf head coach Ed Weaver said following the Pace O'Play Palooza.

Now about midway through his second varsity year, Bennett has enjoyed spending time with his Niwot teammates both on and off the golf course.

"The Niwot guys, we're all super close and we have been for both of my two years," Bennett said. "It's not just golf, it's outside of golf. We try to hang out as much as we can in practice and play together a lot."