It was a bit of an up-and-down battle on the Aspen Lakes Golf Course in Sisters for Summit sophomore Bryden Ditty, especially with his putter. Then he put together a magical final four holes.

Having bogeyed his previous two holes and sitting three strokes over par after 14 holes in Monday’s Intermountain Conference boys golf championships, Ditty went on a tear on the final four holes to finish first on the leaderboard.

Ditty birdied the par-5 15th hole, then did the same on the par-4 16th hole. He nearly aced the par-3 17th hole and birdied that one as well before closing out with a par on the 18th hole. Ditty finished with a 72 (even par) to win the tournament title.

“I just tried to finish strong,” Ditty said. “My putting was struggling all day but I got into a rhythm those last few holes. It all came together for me at the end after battling through all the ups and downs today. As soon as one putt dropped, I got my confidence going.”

Monday was a fitting end to a stellar IMC season for the Storm. Ditty was the IMC tournament champion, junior Bryce Grieb finished with the most points during the regular season and was the accumulative IMC champion, and Summit won the IMC team title.

Grieb was extremely steady this spring. In the six IMC tournaments leading up to Monday’s championship, he finished first three times and second three times. He finished second on Monday with a score of 77 (+5).

“I was just sitting around the low 70s all year,” said Grieb, who finished tied for second at last year’s 5A state tournament. “These tournaments during the regular season, I just wanted to be around the top all the time. I tried not to play risky, just stay consistent on the course.”

The Storm, winners of three straight state titles and six since 2015, had the IMC team title wrapped up before teeing off Monday afternoon after winning five of the six IMC tournaments this spring.

But just for good measure, Summit left no doubt by winning Monday’s tournament with a team score of 311. Bend High and Ridgeview tied for second with 347, followed by Mountain View (348), Redmond (350) and Caldera (379).

The Storm had the three highest placers in the tournament. Ditty finished first, Grieb finished second and senior Rooks Maxwell tied with Mountain View senior Grayson Moore and Bend junior Silas Waller for third after shooting an 80 (+8). Senior JB Scanlon finished seventh (83, +10) and senior Palo Delia finished 12th (85, +12) to round out the scoring for the Storm.

The Summit team, along with Moore and Bend senior Gustav Kristofferson all qualified for the Class 5A state championships at the OGA Golf Course in Woodburn May 19-20. Moore and Kristofferson qualified as the two highest-placing players throughout the course of the season not on the winning team.

The Bend, Ridgeview and Mountain View teams all qualified for the regional tournament next Monday at Indian Creek Golf Course in Hood River and will have another chance to qualify for state. The three teams will compete against teams from the Northwest Oregon Conference, and the top two teams and top four individuals not on the qualifying teams will advance to state.

Summit can bypass the regional tournament and head straight to state. The Storm will attempt to win four consecutive state team titles for the first time in program history.

“We are trying to get the four-peat done,” Ditty said. “It has never been done in school history. It is definitely a little nerve-wracking but it is also exciting at the same time.”

Reporter: brathbone@bendbulletin.com, 541-668-7538