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So he thought.
Fortunately for Denlinger, it was a 36-hole tournament. Not 35.
After watching his lead officially slip away with a bogey on the 17th hole Tuesday afternoon at wind-battered Heritage Hills Golf Resort, the Lancaster Mennonite senior made amends one hole later, draining a 10-foot, par-saving putt to secure a one-shot victory at the PIAA Golf Championships.
Denlinger's two-day total of 70-74—144 left him one shot clear of defending champion Gregor Orlando of Cathedral Prep and Council Rock North's Brandon Dalinka.
Meanwhile, Seneca Valley's Matt Vogt, who was tied for the lead with Denlinger when he arrived at the 18th tee, dropped into a tie for fourth after making a disastrous triple bogey on the home hole.
All of which allowed Denlinger to become the Lancaster-Lebanon League's first PIAA boys' individual golf champion since Cedar Crest's Blaine Peffley in 2001, and the first Lancaster County boys' golfer to win the event since Ephrata's Brad Hertzog in 1988. Manheim Township's Sarah Bejgrowicz won the PIAA girls' title in 2006.
"Definitely surreal," Denlinger said afterward, unable to wipe the wide smile off his face. "I just finished number one in the state. … I didn't even win our (L-L) league (title), but I won states."
Not a total shock, considering the way he'd been playing this postseason, having backed up a tie for third at the L-L Championships with a solo third at districts, before taking fifth at the East Regional Championships.Still, he never saw this coming. Especially considering the direction things started going late in his round Tuesday.
Starting the day one shot behind Vogt, Denlinger grabbed a share of the lead with a birdie at the par-5 second, and took the lead outright when Vogt bogeyed No. 3.
Back-to-back birdies on the par-4 sixth (lob wedge to three feet) and the par-5 seventh (gap wedge to five feet) put Denlinger three shots ahead of Vogt at the turn.
"The front nine I played so well," said Denlinger, whose best showing in two previous PIAA appearances was a tie for 19th as a sophomore. "In this wind, 2-under on that front nine … that was one of the best nines I've ever played."
But that joyride soon hit a massive speed bump.
After a three-putt bogey at No. 13 and another bogey at 15 (failed to get up and down), Denlinger pulled his tee shot into the hazard at No. 16, leading to a double bogey left him one shot ahead of Vogt.
The biggest blow, however, came one hole later.
After hitting a perfect tee shot at the par-4 17th, Denlinger's 80-yard approach shot came up woefully short, landed on a rock bordering a creek, and ricocheted left onto a fescue-covered hill.
(1593) (537) (416) (291) (279) (20) (7)"I just flat-out chunked it," Denlinger said the shot. "I thought I lost the tournament right there, I really did. I thought it was over."
Cue Denlinger's heroics.
After hacking out of the fescue en route to a bogey that kept him tied for the lead with Vogt, Denlinger was given an opening when Vogt pushed his tee shot into the right rough at the par-4 18th.
With Denlinger safely in the fairway, Vogt tried to power his second shot over some trees, only to have it end up in a water hazard in front of the green. He went on to make 7.
Problem was, after Denlinger got his second shot on the green, 50 feet below the hole, Dalinka, who was two shots back, knocked his approach within eight feet and eventually made birdie to get within one of Denlinger.
No big deal, of course, until Denlinger left his 50-foot, uphill birdie putt 10 feet short. Miss the next one and he's in a playoff.
Never happened.
"I was just thinking, I need this to go in," Denlinger recalled of his final putt. "I hit my line perfect and it just dropped. It was such a good feeling."
No doubt, considering all he'd been through in the last hour.
E-mail: jfulginiti@lnpnews.com
