Ottawa senior Bryer Harris was battling Kaneland junior Dylan Pjeksy for top honors during Tuesday’s Interstate 8 Boys Golf Tournament at Sycamore Golf Club and then the rains came.
Again.
The weather forced the postponement of the meet on Monday at Kishwaukee Country Club, so it was rescheduled at a new venue where the girls were hosting their conference meet at the same time.
On Tuesday, Harris and the field had to endure a pause in the action that lasted over an hour, but that did nothing to sidetrack the ambitious senior from finishing off a perfect conference season in which he earned medalist honors in every dual as he proved to be the lone player to shoot under par, firing a 1-under 70.
“I think during all of the conference I played pretty well in those nine-hole matches,” Harris said. “This was a new day and like every day, I just tried to do my best. It was cold and wet, and it rained the whole time, and then we had the delay, but once I was able to play again I hit a good shot and got back into the rhythm. I made two birdies right before the pause in play and kept it going to finish up.”
Pjesky matched Harris through 16 holes, finishing second overall with a 1-over 72.
“I felt like I played pretty good, but l left a few shots out there and missed some makeable putts,” Pjesky said. “I had a two-shot lead heading into the final five holes after the break, but then I hit some bad shots and (Harris) hit some good shots and that’s how it worked out.”
The Knights, who won the conference outright, also won on Tuesday with a 294 to runner-up Sycamore’s 305. Rochelle (306) was third and followed by Ottawa (309), Morris (321) and LaSalle-Peru (339).
Kaneland senior Carson Iwanski finished third overall with a 2-over 73.
“I’m really proud of the team with our lowest score, and I knew we were capable of doing this so this is a great time to start doing it,” Iwanski said. “I played pretty well. I can’t complain about third place. I hit around 15 greens all day. I was striking the ball well and it came down to putting at the end. Before the break I had three, three-putts, but after the break I went one-under-par for the last four holes so I flipped it, got the speed right and got to the top 3.”
Sophomore Joe di Guglielmo (74), senior Jacob Yost (75), sophomore Hayden Deutsch (76) and junior Sam Corbett (82) also helped the Knights bring the conference title to Maple Park.
Ottawa junior Joshua Armstrong, Rochelle senior Connor Lewis and Sycamore’s Andrew Swedberg tied with di Guglielmo for fourth place.
“I feel like I really persevered mentally, especially with the rain delay,” Swedberg. “It was kind of hard to go back out there. I thought the constant rain was a factor. It made it tougher for me, but I was proud of the way I stayed in it mentally.”
The break proved to be a beneficial one for Swedberg, who returned with a birdie.
“I was not hitting the ball as well as I would’ve liked,” he said. “I finished my hole and then we had the delay. I came back and ended up birdying the first hole back and that gave me a nice boost for the next couple holes.”
Yost was eighth, Deutsch was ninth and Sycamore seniors Gavin Sedevie (77), Eli Goodeill and sophomore Anthony Tufts tied for tenth with Rochelle seniors Johnny Chadwick and Alex Dyer and Morris junior Braden Wickkiser.
Morris freshman Eli Smyk (79) took 17th in his debut conference meet while senior teammate Brycen Johnson (84) tied for 25th.