Chase Smith repeated as Warren County golf champion on Sunday, but a 13-year-old sent notice that the competition is sure to get even stiffer.

Parker Rutherford, a Warren Junior High student who won’t turn 14 until October, finished six shots back of the lead, but played as solid a round as anyone. Coming into this weekend, he had never played from the championship blue tees and certainly not against the competition he faced over the weekend at Clear Creek Golf Course in Bovina.

“Coming into today, I really thought the blue tees would get to him,” Smith said of Rutherford. “He didn’t hit a bad shot all day. Everything he hit was solid. It was impressive.”

Rutherford had to play up an age group during the junior championships even to earn a berth in the final foursome on Sunday. He was paired with Joe Grayson, a 54-year-old who was just happy to be in the running.

Rutherford and Grayson each shot 72s during Saturday’s first round to join Smith and Mike Hurley – both mainstays in the final group – on Sunday. Grayson said he had no expectations of winning and spent the day playing the best golf he could and keeping the youngster Rutherford loose.

On No. 11, the jovial Grayson bellowed to Rutherford, “I’m tired of telling you nice shot.”

“I wanted to keep Parker in the game and never let it get to him,” Grayson said. “I tried to keep him a little unfocused on the ride down and when we got to the ball I would tell him to get his stuff together. I know what it is like for a young guy to play with the big boys. I wanted to keep it as light as I could.”

Rutherford bogeyed 10 and 18, but had a nifty birdie on No. 12 and came within two feet of scoring birdie on No. 13.

“I felt like I hit pretty good all day, especially against Chase and Mike who can throw under par at you at any time,” Rutherford said. “Joe played really good too and I was trying to keep up with him.”

But at the end of the day, it was Smith taking advantage of a couple of Hurley errors at the turn to take the lead and cruise to the championship.

Hurley had a two-shot lead at the turn, but he bogeyed 10, then found himself behind a tree on No. 11. He tried to shoot it through the trees, but the ball bounded back near the 10th fairway and he ended with double bogey. Meanwhile, Smith birdied both 10 and 11 – a five stroke swing – that gave the former St. Aloysius standout a lead he would not relinquish.

“I started missing fairways and started getting into trouble I couldn’t get out of,” Hurley said. “It was all my fault.”

Smith parred 12, bogeyed 13, parred 14 and strung together two straight birdies heading to 17, his only real hiccup of the day. Smith tried to drive the ball up a hill and over a bank of trees only to have his ball lost. He re-hit, then hit another tree. Smith ended with a 3-over 7 on the hole, but it didn’t matter. He parred 18 to secure the championship.

“When he stumbled a little and I birdied those two, it turned around in a hurry,” Smith said. “Being up three or four shots makes it a lot easier to play.”

Mark White finished with a two-day 145 and tied Smith for the low round on Sunday.

“I didn’t shoot as well as I could, but I did a good job scrambling when I hit a bad shot,” Grayson said. “I couldn’t have picked a better group of guys to be playing with. I couldn’t lose today.”