WORLAND - After undergoing surgery on his knee in the early spring, youth golfer Karsten Simmons is back out on the golf course as he continues his dominating stretch from last year.

In 2016 Simmons won eight of the nine tournaments he competed in while playing in the Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Tour. Back in action for his first tournament this summer, Simmons kept it rolling with another first-place finish in Greeley, Colorado, for the Highland Hills Jr. Open.

"He played very good on an incredibly hard golf course," said Karsten's father, Randy Simmons.

The Highland Hills course would be anything but a cakewalk for Karsten Simmons in his return to the links. The course superintendent was part of the U.S. Open maintenance crew and made the course a challenge at every turn with narrow fairways, thick roughs and tricky greens.

"The greens were setup the toughest I have seen. They were super hard and fast. You had to pay very close attention to these greens because one minute your ball is sitting on the green and then the next you look up, and a slight breeze just blew your ball off the green. The greens were also very large with a lot of breaking points. This golf course completely chewed up the field of players," said Randy Simmons.

For the two-day tournament Karsten Simmons shot a 79 in the first round and a 77 in the second round for a tournament total of 156. Shooting a 156 won him the 13- to 14-year-old division, but was also a tournament best when compared against the older age divisions.

Winning the tournament also qualifies Simmons for the Rocky Mountain Junior Golf major events. The first will be on Nov. 26-28 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at Bear's Best; Simmons will get to defend his title having won it last year. Next up will be the Tournament of Champions in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Dec. 27-29. The final major will be the North American Junior Amateur Championship in Litchfield Park, Arizona, on Dec. 30- Jan 3.

Getting back on the course after surgery was a tough journey for Karsten Simmons, but he received tremendous support along the way to get him back to playing the game he loves.

"Karsten has many thanks to give to all that supported him with his tough time having to have knee surgery in March. He wants to thank all his friends, followers, family, doctor and physical therapist for doing a great job getting him back in action," said Randy Simmons.