Cottonwood’s Bode Widerburg stuns golf world, ties for seventh at state as lone entrant
Nov 07, 2018 03:21PM ● By Jana Klopsch
Cottonwood’s Bode Widerburg tied for seventh at state as the Colts’ only entrant. (Stock photo)
By Brian Shaw | [email protected]
Bode is a unique first name. If someone had to think long and hard about the people they might know with the name, it is probably a short list.
Olympic gold medalist skier Bode Miller immediately comes to the mind of this writer. What a daredevil and amazing athlete he was.
But Cottonwood Colts sophomore Bode Widerburg — a little known golfer whose best finish as an amateur came at the Salt Lake County Jr. this past July in 21st place — might be someone you want to get to know quick with the same name.
Widerburg entered his first Utah State 5A golf championship on Oct. 3-4 as a lone wolf — or colt.
No other Cottonwood Colt golfer would join him at the Glen Eagle Golf Course in Bountiful that weekend; he would be doing this all by himself.
That didn't matter though, because Widerburg — only one of a handful of individual golfers good enough this season to qualify for state on his own — shot a first-round 75 on Oct. 3 to put himself above the cutline and in the conversation.
Shooting a 75 turned out to be better than about half the field at the 5A state tournament. But, Widerburg did something that stunned many on the second day; he flattened his first-day total by shooting a 69 on the second day.
To put the score into perspective, there was only one other golfer who bettered Widerburg's total: 5A state champion Zach Neff of Olympus, who shot a second-round 67 to win it all.
For Widerburg, whose last foray at Glen Eagle wasn't even good enough to make the final-round cut at the Utah Jr. Open this past June — he shot 79 over two rounds — finishing in a tie for seventh at state was something special.
Next up for Widerburg? The tennis season at Cottonwood. And then the 16 year old will focus his attention back on the Utah junior golf circuit in the summer before gearing up for what should be an exciting 2019 golf season at CHS — one in which he'll strive to improve on such an impressive appearance at state.
