{"id":880600,"date":"2026-10-13T07:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T07:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/880600\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T07:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T07:48:11","slug":"burlington-central-boys-golf-reflects-on-special-season-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/880600\/","title":{"rendered":"Burlington Central boys golf reflects on \u2018special season\u2019 \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first glance, the Burlington Central<\/a> boys golf team\u2019s season ended in disappointment. The Rockets couldn\u2019t avoid big numbers at the Den at Fox Creek and shot a 317, leaving them outside the cut at 11th place at the Class 3A IHSA State Finals. <\/p>\n

But to coach Tom Davies, focusing on that statistic discredits the team\u2019s other numerical milestones throughout the season. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think, in time, these guys are going to see they\u2019ve really had a pretty special season,\u201d Davies said. <\/p>\n

For starters, the 317 wasn\u2019t what the Rockets wanted or expected, but it was still the second-best score, relative to par, in the program\u2019s history at state, Davies said. Burlington Central moved up to 3A last season, and Davies credited the talent at that level for evening the playing field. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Rockets paved the way to Bloomington with dominance, winning their regional sectional to advance to state for the first time since 2024, when they took third. <\/p>\n

This season, the team never shot over 320. The Rockets went undefeated in the Fox Valley Conference, won a pair of invites and swept St. Charles East and St. Charles North in friendlies. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it was a chance that they wouldn\u2019t be in the top eight teams [at state],\u201d Davies said. \u201cBut I think that\u2019s a testament to high school golf and how far it\u2019s come, how thin the margins are.\u201d <\/p>\n

Davies pointed to Geneva, another talented team that won its conference and regional but didn\u2019t make the cut downstate. But he won\u2019t make excuses. His squad entered the round with confidence. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t make it downstate if you\u2019re not talented,\u201d Davies said. \u201cBut there\u2019s got to be some kind of, I don\u2019t want to call it cocky, but arrogance. If you\u2019re going down there and you don\u2019t believe that you can win state, what are we doing?\u201d <\/p>\n

On the course, Davies said the team struggled psychologically. The pressure of a state final combined with the inherent difficulty of golf made for a demanding environment. But some Rockets still found success. <\/p>\n

Senior Tommy Wyse made the cut and finished tied for 22nd, shooting 2-over-par. Junior Evan Sarallo also advanced to the next day, winding up in 30th place at 5-over. Wyse overcame three double-bogeys on the front nine with three birdies over the next six. <\/p>\n

\u201cTommy was dialed in,\u201d Davies said. \u201cDialed in definitely with his driver. He doesn\u2019t take a lot of time. He commits to his shot. He sees his line. He has his game plan. He doesn\u2019t overthink it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Burlington Central\u2019s state lineup featured three other seniors \u2013 Matthew Zierk, Colin Gritzman and Brock Wilbrandt. The trio didn\u2019t make the cut, but led the charge in providing support for Wyse and Sarallo. Even the seniors who didn\u2019t make the state team drove down to cheer on their teammates over the weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cYour seniors are always special, but I mean, this group was absolutely amazing with talent, amazing with character, everything you could ever ask for in a group of guys.\u201d <\/p>\n

Davies coached all five of Burlington Central\u2019s state teams in program history. He said golf is a game with 90 seconds of action, then another five hours of thinking. The team\u2019s depth will be tested again with the departure of six seniors, but the Rockets have the postseason lessons, even the harsh ones, to lean on going forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll have to deal with a little bit of disappointment, but they\u2019ll learn from it,\u201d Davies said. \u201cThey\u2019ll grow.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At first glance, the Burlington Central boys golf team\u2019s season ended in disappointment. The Rockets couldn\u2019t avoid big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[297599,369981,427,4050,99],"class_list":["post-880600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-boys-golf","tag-burlington-central-preps","tag-golf","tag-high-school-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}