Ottawa won its eighth straight IHSA Class 2A Regional Championship Wednesday, enjoying a 14-stroke margin of victory atop an eight-team field as the Pirates hosted this year’s event at Deer Park Golf Club in Oglesby.
Coach Keith Budzowski’s squad turned in a total of 314 and had three of the event’s top six finishers. Bryer Harris placed second with a score of 73, while James Threadgill came in third (77) and Bodie Martin finished sixth (80). La Salle-Peru (328) and Streator (329) claimed the other two qualifying spots in Monday’s Sectional Championship.
Wednesday’s tournament was delayed 45 minutes by weather and changed to a shotgun start due to persistent rain, and another delay of just more than an hour had to be taken later in the day.
“We knew the weather was going to be less than ideal,” Budzowski said. “So today was a mental game. You’re not going to get a ton of birdies and shoot your record score, but you just have to stay in it mentally, and they did a good job of that today.”
The individual championship was claimed by La Salle-Peru’s Adan Chiu, the seventh-place finisher in last year’s tournament.
“Adan had a great round today,” said La Salle-Peru head coach Randy Gunia. “He played a smart game, and it showed in his score.”
Opening the event on the back nine, Chiu carded birdies on the par-4 16th and par-5 18th holes to make the turn at two over par. Chiu shot one under par over the final seven holes, taking six pars and a birdie on the par-5 fourth.
“On the back nine, going into the last few holes, my tee shots and approach shots were not too good,” Chiu said. “My short game, my chipping and putting, helped me a lot. Usually, I try to birdie (the par-5 holes) because there’s a lot of room for error.
“(The course) was rough. Putting was pretty hard. It was super-unpredictable, because there were wet spots and dry spots, so that was probably the hardest part, but I did pretty good in my putting today.”
Harris, the 2025 individual regional champion, finished among the regional top 10 for the fourth time. He placed fourth in 2024 and finished third as a freshman in 2023.
“The delay was hard,” he said. “Having to go back in and sit down for an hour and wait was hard, but I didn’t think we were going to play, to be honest. The greens were difficult because they had standing water on them, but I got used to it as the day went on.”
Brennen Stillwell of Streator and Braden Wickkiser of Morris tied for fourth (78), making Wickkiser the first of 10 individual sectional qualifiers. Joliet Catholic’s Colt Zabel placed seventh (80), while other qualifiers are Tyler Ranallo of Morris in (eighth, 81), Mike Bulow of Providence Catholic (ninth, 82), Landon Bukowski of Morris (10th, 83), Colton Pfeiffer of Providence Catholic (83), Callen Foster of Joliet Catholic (13th, 84), Carter Heinen of Joliet Catholic (16th, 84), Lucas Gattardo of Providence Catholic (20th, 85) and Frankie Ponio of Coal City (21st, 85).
Morris finished fourth in the team standings (334), followed by Joliet Catholic (337), Providence Catholic (337), Coal City (357) and Manteno (357).
Monday’s Class 2A Sectional will be held at Kishwaukee Country Club in DeKalb, hosted by Sycamore. The course has recently hosted the Interstate Eight Championships but did not this year due to course conditions.
The tournament will include qualifiers from the Rockford Boylan, Marengo, and Sandwich Regionals. Ottawa is the defending champion in the event.