LOCKPORT – Providence Catholic’s Davis Billows has been to the Class 2A boys golf state championship before – as a spectator.
Friday, he’ll get to tee it up on Illinois State’s Weibring course. And he can’t wait.
“I watched my friends last year,” Billows said. “It kinda feels good to get that off my back. I’ve seen the atmosphere, and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to all year.
“I’ve played in some pretty big tournaments in the summer that probably have even better fields, but it being state, it has a different feel to it, because you’re representing your school. It’s really cool to see.”
Billows, a junior, will have a fellow Celtic in the field. Senior Ryan Hilty advanced on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff with a par 5 after shooting a 7-over-par 79 in the Class 2A Sectional at Prairie Bluff Public Golf Club, knocking out Lemont senior Grant Sullivan with the sun 30 minutes from setting.
Lemont’s Paulius Malcius was the other area golfer to advance. He shot a 4-over 76 despite a double-bogey 6 on the last hole.
“I was playing pretty good,” Malcius said. “I wasn’t making many putts, but I had a lot of tap-ins. On 18, I hit a driving iron 230 into the water. Pushed it.”
His third went over the green, and he eventually two-putted. But he’ll be in Normal for the second straight year.
“I loved the experience,” Malcuis said. “I think it’s going to help me a ton. I’ll know what to do. I won’t have a lot of stress.”
No area team advanced. Providence’s total of 318 was 10 strokes better than the 308 posted by both Benet Academy and Wheaton Academy. Fenwick’s 306 led the way.
Joliet Catholic Academy was 11th in the 12-team field at 371. Senior Creighton Karner’s 85 led the Hilltoppers. Billows’ team-leading 75 started with a 38, and then came bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes. Then he rallied with pars on the next two holes and a birdie on the par-4 14th.
“That was a big highlight,” Billows said. “I’d struggled with that hole in the practice rounds. I hit hybrid to the middle of the fairway and a 7-iron to about 20 feet.”
He rolled that in for birdie.
“It was a big putt for me to get back on track,” Billows said.
The par on the 12th hole was important. He was playing with pal Jake Wiktor, representing Fenwick, who played 10 and 11 in birdie-par, three strokes better. He couldn’t afford to fall too far back.
“I needed something to settle me down,” Billows said.
Billy Gneiser of Hinsdale South and Sam Dykema of Wheaton Academy led the field at even-par 72.
Nazareth Academy’s Jonathan Winters also advanced in sudden death, scoring a birdie via a 25-foot putt on the par-3 third hole, leaving Hilty and Sullivan to fight for the last spot.