{"id":106704,"date":"2025-08-30T01:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T01:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106704\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T01:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T01:21:07","slug":"illinois-teen-golfer-shoots-an-astounding-59-at-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106704\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois teen golfer shoots an astounding 59 at tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alli Wiertel<\/a>, a sophomore golfer at Oswego High School in Illinois, recently shot an incredible tournament round that has an entire community buzzing.<\/p>\n

Wiertel first picked up a golf club when she was four years old, and she hasn\u2019t put it down since, a \u201ctrue love at first swing\u201d story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many things about golf I love,\u201d she said. \u201cI love going out and playing late. I love sunset rounds, I love hitting a good shot in the fairway, birdies. I even like \u2014 honestly, sometimes \u2014 the hard rounds, because then it makes you want to work harder. I just have a true love for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the great golfers have more than just a true love for the game. They\u2019ve got the talent and resiliency most can only dream of. The sophomore at Oswego High School has the whole package.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that Alli is a very special golfer,\u201d her high school golf coach Brian Chandler said. \u201cEverything she does on the golf course is calculated. Everything she does on the golf course is based on her previous experiences and her previous opportunities to play competitive golf, and she does a great job carrying that over into her high school rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was never truer than August 14 when the 16-year-old caught fire during a tournament at Whitetail Ridge in Yorkville and started chasing a number that\u2019s only been achieved once on the LPGA Tour: 59. Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam accomplished the feat in 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy putting was great. I hit close shots, a lot of close shots, gave myself a ton of birdie looks. I was able to chip in that round, so it was a lot of things going my way,\u201d Wiertel remembered.<\/p>\n

To reach golf\u2019s holy grail, Alli had to come up clutch late in her historic round. She needed to go three under par over her final two holes, and she made an eagle on 17. A few minutes later, she was standing over a six-foot birdie putt with a chance to break 60. Was there any doubt in her coach\u2019s mind that she\u2019d sink the putt?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo doubt. She was going to make that all day,\u201d Chandler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was feeling pretty calm,\u201d Wiertel said. \u201cJust knew that I could do it. It was a shorter hole, so I was trying to drive the green \u2014 I was not trying to play it safe. I just tried to drive the green, chipped it close, and I was able to make a putt. I was pretty calm just trying to do what I knew I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her score of 59 set a new course record, but not an IHSA record, because the governing body only records them at the state meet. Knowing that, you can probably guess Alli\u2019s next golfing goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to win state,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s definitely my goal this year. I know I can do it, so I\u2019d like to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

And could she break the girls state record of 65?<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, hopefully break the state record. That\u2019d be cool, too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alli Wiertel, a sophomore golfer at Oswego High School in Illinois, recently shot an incredible tournament round that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-106704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}