BURLINGTON — Late in the afternoon on Thursday, with a gaggle of onlookers gathered adjacent to the 18th green at Burlington Country Club, Hartford’s Rowan Irvine stood over a short putt for par. The sophomore needed to sink it. Having already torn through the box of assorted snacks placed in front of them by coach Erin Stevens, his teammates stood on the clubhouse’s outdoor deck and watched with bated breath.

Irvine buried the putt. 

The former jayvee player — and the Hurricanes’ No. 5 in the lineup — turned to his teammates and fist pumped, his par on the 18th hole securing a runner-up finish for Hartford in the VPA Division II state tournament.

“That caps it off perfectly,” Stevens said of Hartford’s 2024 campaign. “With the boys on the deck with (Irvine) there, knowing that he didn’t grow up playing golf, he started a couple of years ago.

“That caps it off because that’s the vibe of this team. They’re all such different kids; they all have different interests outside of this. That to me is the growth of this program: a kid who started on jayvee, who makes a putt that puts us in second place instead of dropping us into fourth. That’s huge.”

Ahead of the tournament, Stevens told the group no one should attempt anything heroic. Instead, just play “solid golf.” 

Even simple golf was at times hard to do as the 34 golfers and six D-II teams that assembled in Burlington battled the elements. Temperatures in the mid-to-high 40s, 25 mph wind gusts and some spotty rain affected ball flight all day. The course’s firm greens didn’t make matters any easier.

“We had a practice round on Sunday and the wind was about 10 miles-per-hour faster,” Hartford junior captain Thomas Thorburn said of the weather conditions. “So it was a little better, but the wind is still horrible. It’s just so cold out. It was hard to keep my hands warm.”

Windsor freshman Jake Smith said he had to club up or down two-to-three clubs to “power through the wind” at times throughout the round. But he, just like Thorburn, was quick to point out that you can’t control the weather. 

Smith, who competed as an individual after shooting a 79 in the state qualifier at Neshobe Country Club on Oct. 1, joked that his round Thursday, one where he carded a 16-over 87 for a solo sixth-place finish, “could have been better.” 

Still, on the eve of his 14th birthday, there Smith was teeing off shortly after 11 a.m. with the tournament’s presumptive leaders — Otter Valley’s Lucas Politano, Stowe’s Rowan Turner and Thorburn for Hartford — in the first group.

“People say that the better golfer you play with, the better you play, just because you’re trying to keep up with them,” Smith said. “So I think it does help out a little bit, just because I’m trying to stay with them.”

For Windsor coach Pat Allen, Smith’s placement with some of the tournament’s top players — all of whom finished inside the top-five — was another reminder of Smith’s unflappable nature on the course. So too was his streak of four consecutive pars to close the round.

“He just walks up with such poise to the very first tee shot,” Allen said. “He walks up like it’s just another walk in the park for him. That speaks volumes to his character. And it’s really exciting for the years to come. He’s got three more years, and I told him before the match, ‘There’s no pressure on you.’”

While there may not have been any pressure on Smith’s performance Thursday, Thorburn admitted that Hartford, as the reigning D-II state champions, faced a lot of external expectations to defend their title.

Those looking from the outside contended that Hartford was a team primed for a state title defense, he said. But the team had graduated a few seniors from the previous season and its makeup took it’s own time to develop.  

“They all thought we were going to win again, but we knew coming in that Otter Valley was going to be really good,” said Thorburn, who finished in fifth after carding an 86. “They played a lot better (Thursday).”

Unlike in 2022 when Otter Valley edged out Hartford by just two strokes, the play of Politano and Jackson Howe propelled the Otters to their third D-II state title in four seasons in convincing fashion. 

Politano, on the same course he was crowned the 2024 Vermont Amateur champion just four months earlier, carded a 3-over 74 to win his third straight D-II individual title. 

“The strongest team in Division II won today,” Stevens said of Otter Valley. “They’ve got talent up and down the roster. … We’ve developed a great relationship with them over the years, so I’m happy for them.”

After bogeying the par-3 third hole, Politano ripped off eight-straight pars to take a commanding lead. However, consecutive bogeys on holes 12 and 13 appeared to open the door to Stowe’s Rowan Turner, who finished solo second with a 9-over, 80. But back-to-back pars on holes 14 and 15, plus a birdie on the par-4 17th, steadied the ship as the soon-to-be Rutgers Scarlet Knight cruised to another individual state title.

“(Otter Valley) has a pretty solid No. 1,” Thorburn joked after the round. 

Thursday’s result marks the second time in three seasons that Hartford has finished second to Otter Valley at the state tournament. 

While this season didn’t end in another championship, Stevens maintains that her “end goal” was accomplished: Her team of seven are “better golfers and better people” than when the season began.

“I think it’s healthy to be disappointed,” Stevens said of her team’s runner-up finish. “I think it’s healthy to want a couple of (shots) back. But I also think it’s really healthy to just get on the bus, hang out with your buddies and move forward.

“I would not trade these guys for the world. I would pick them any day.”

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.