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WOOD RIVER – Edwardsville and Marquette Catholic certainly were on top of their games Thursday afternoon at the Madison County Boys Golf Championship tournament at Wood River's Belk Part Golf Course.
Both the Tigers and Explorers got 3-under 69s from Ben Tyrell and Jack Patterson to share medalist honors on the day as the Tigers fired a team 296 to win the large-school division of the tournament, while the Explorers shot a team 302 to take small-school honors on the day on the par-72, 6,326-yard layout.
Roxana finished second in the small-school team competition with a 368, while Civic Memorial was third with a team 399; East Alton-Wood River and Metro East Lutheran both did not have enough players to record a team score. Highland shot a team 327 to finish second behind EHS in the large-school competition, while Triad took third with a 345, Collinsville was fourth at 353, Granite City was fifth with a 358 and Alton finished sixth at 375.
“We did an excellent job of finishing today,” said Tiger coach Adam Tyler, referring to the EHS' finish at Tuesday's Alton Tee-Off Classic. “I think the other day was difficult; conditions were somewhat difficult today as well, so we managed that very well (temperatures were in the upper 80s with a breeze blowing throughout the day), but we didn't finish the other day and today, we did. It really showed in the scores; I think that was the difference between the 296 and the 311 from the other day.
“I think we managed the course very well; we didn't have the big number on a hole. You preach patience, and I think when you see bogies and not the double bogies and triple bogies, it shows you're being patient. You hit a bad shot, it shows you take your medicine and you punch out – you play for a par, you play for a bogie. I think we did a better job of that today as well; we were patient, didn't get too eager, even though this is a course you can shoot well on and it can be frustrating if you're missing birdie putts and things like that, you may want to get aggressive, but I think we did a good job of staying within ourselves and staying patient.”
Tyrell bounced back from a 3-over 75 at Spencer T. Olin Tuesday to fire his 69. “The round he had today shows how good of a player he is,” Tyler said. “I think he was 2-under at one point in time, then he was 2-over at one point in time and he finished 3-under; that just shows you have good of a payer he is. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I think he had eight birdies today; he gets rid of a few of the bogies he had, and he's maybe looking at a 65 today.
“It's kind of funny that you talk about a 75 being a bad round, but it really is for him; I think the 69 today is probably something that he's looking to improve on – like I said, he could have very easily been 5- or 6-under today, but conditions out here today weren't the easiest in the world.”
“To shoot 302 as a team at Belk Park, that's really good,” said new Explorer coach Ryan Geisler. “This is a tough course; one of the longer ones on the schedule, but the boys play here plenty; they know where to take chances and where to lay back and play it safe. It was a perfect day for golf; it got a little breezy there towards the middle of the round, but the course was in great shape and perfect for scoring. These guys went low and I couldn't be happier with them.”
That the Explorers took on some good competition and did well was pleasing to Geisler. “It's going to take a minute for it to sink in, but these boys came out today and faced some pretty good competition,” Geisler said. “They were the better of the small schools, and we were right behind Edwardsville; we were only six shots from tying them – that's excellent.”
That Patterson was able to share the day's medalist honors with Tyrell made Geisler very happy. “That's incredible,” Geisler said of Patterson's achievement. “The boys went to work today.”
Despite the sixth-place finish, Redbird coach Zach Deeder was happy with his team's performance, led by a 12-over 84 from Dylan Lahue. “It was a great day” for the Redbirds, Deeder said. “We cut 20 strokes off from our last 18-hole score; any way we can improve, we're happy with. (Lahue's) 84 was one of our lowest 18-hole scores in awhile; I'm definitely happy with that. Dylan's been with me for a year now and has shown a lot of improvement, but I've got other guys on that board that can shoot way lower, too. We've got room to improve.
“You're just kind of feeling things out (at the start of a season), getting used to the competition; a lot of my guys are younger this year and they have only one season or no seasons (under their belts),so they're getting used to the spectators, getting used to people watching and just the nerves that go along with it. After about the first week, because we have a very busy beginning of our schedule, you're used to it – then you can start focusing on golf and the scores start to come down. I think Dylan's there; he's at a point where he's just golfing, he doesn't care about the spectators or the car driving by – it's just about hitting that ball and that's what we like to see.”
Among other teams in the tournament, Granite City's Drew Weilgus led the way with a 12-over 84, Jon Ratterman and Hunter James each turned in 3-over 75s, Roxana's Scott Anderson fired an 11-over 83, Jacob Fromme shot a 93 to lead Civic Memorial, EAWR's Austin Compton had a 102 playing as an individual for the Oilers and Jonah Wilson of MEL had a 108 playing as an individual on the day.
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