The Montezuma-Cortez High School boys golf team capped off the season with senior Thayer Plewe hanging up his state championship banner during a pep rally Monday.
“It is definitely a big honor,” Plewe said before the ceremony. “It’s always fun to be etched in history, and to have it happen at my high school is something I’ve always looked forward too.”
To clinch the title, Plewe won the final 3A boys high school tournament in October at the Denver Pinehurst Country Club. He shot a 70 in the first round and a 64 in the second round, winning by five strokes overall. Plewe was the runner-up the previous two years.
At the assembly, he stood with his teammates in front of the student body while the season stats were read by his mother, Monica Plewe. His father, Todd Plewe, is the coach of the team, and is chief judge of the 22nd Judicial District.
Thayer, the team captain, had a stellar senior year. He won seven of nine regular-season tournaments this year, and had a season stroke average of 69.5. He was the regional tournament champion and was named state 3A player of the year, among other accomplishments.
Plewe is graduating Dec. 20, a semester early, and is on the honor roll with a 4.3 GPA.
In November, he signed to play for the University of New Mexico men’s golf team on a full scholarship.
The UNM Lobos, a Division 1 school in the Mountain West Conference, boasts one of the best golfing programs in the nation. Many graduates have gone on to play in the PGA, LPGA and European tours.
Plewe will enroll and join the team in fall 2025 after completing a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Portugal.
Before heading to Europe in March, he plans to squeeze in a couple of golf tournaments in January and spend time in Florida training with Cortez golf pro and coach Micah Rudosky.
“I’m keeping my golf game sharp,” Plewe said.
He’s looking forward his mission and said the break from golf will be beneficial.
“It will be a mental reset. I’ve been working really hard with golf my whole life,” Plewe said. “To have two years focusing on something else, helping others, then come back with a fresh mind will be a big boost mentally.”
Plewe’s ultimate dream is to turn pro and tour the big tournaments.
But like the banner on the gym wall, his experience excelling at golf in Cortez junior programs is forever etched in his mind, and also, in his powerful, southpaw swing.
“The golfing community here has given so much to me as a junior. I want the chance to help kids so they have the same opportunity as I do,” Plewe said.
Plewe joins Shea Sena on the championship wall. Sena, who won the state title in 2003, is one of Plewe’s longtime coaches.
