Golf: Area golfers to experience TPC Deere Run at Riverdale Sectional

Area golfers will get to play in the shadows of the pros for Monday’s 2A Riverdale boys sectional at TPC Deere Run.

Deere Run is the home of the annual John Deere Classic along the Rock River in Silvis. While it is a pro course, the sectional at the TPC will be played from high school distance tees, Hall coach Mason Kimberly said, playing out about at 6,300 yards.

Kimberly said it promises to be quite the experience for his team, as well as St. Bede and Bureau Valley, who gave Bureau County a 1-2-3 sweep of the team qualifiers at last week’s St. Bede Regional at Spring Creek Golf Course.

The Hall coach, who plays the TPC pro course about once a year, said once the high schoolers get over the “awe factor,” it will be just like playing another round of golf.

“It’s kind of like the movie Hoosiers where they’re at the gym for the state finals and they bring out the tape measure and they say, ‘The rim’s still 10 feet high, the free-throw line is still 15 feet away,’” Kimberly said. “When it comes to playing out at the course, you’ve still got to hit good golf shots. You’ve still got to hit it straight. Still got to keep it in play, and you’ve still got to get two putts on every green. Doesn’t matter how they’re shaped, or how fast they are.”

“I think once we get over that awe factor, they’re going to discover it’s just another round of golf.”

Kimberly, who plays the pro course at TPC and shoots in the mid-70s, said the biggest shock for the golfers will be walking the course.

“It’s really hilly,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot more physicality to get through 18 holes than it would at our home course. That’s the whole point of sectionals. You want to make sure the three best teams rise to the top, and that’s a great venue for it.”

Kimberly said he has no idea what it’s going to take to get out as a team or as an individual.

“It’s probably going to be a higher-than-normal score,” he said. “The hardest part about that course are the greens. They’re bigger, they’re faster, they have more slopes. They’re protected by bunkers. The rough around the green is higher.

“I mean, you’ve got to be on your ‘A’ game to have two putts plus or less on every hole.”

Kimberly said Hall cousins Landen and Grant Plym have played the course, and others have been there to watch the pros. He said Landen Plym broke 80 once before his freshman year.

The Red Devils planned to spend a good time of the day Sunday practicing there, Kimberly said, “learning the course and what to expect. It’s going to be a different animal what we’re used to, whether it’ll be our home course at Spring Creek or other high school courses we play.”

Fulton will also compete as a team, having won the Galena regional crown behind medalist Landen Meyers. The Steamers’ coach, Mitch Van Zuiden, is one of the assistant pros at Deere Run.

Other sectional qualifiers include Wes Wilson and Hayden Wittenauer of Amboy; Kyle Wolfe and Logan Palmer of Newman; Carson Zellers (83) of Marquette; Lucas Bernardi (84), Blake Ramsey (86) and Connor Reichman (90) of Fieldcrest; Carson Rowe (86) and Jacob Miller (88) of Henry; Camden Figgins and Hudson Stafford (91) of Serena-Newark; Braden Anderson of Eastland; and Kaden Brown of Forreston.

Bartonville 2A boys sectional

A trio of Princeton Tigers advanced from the Geneseo Regional for Monday’s sectional at Coyote Creek Golf Course in Bartonville. Jaden Eggers was ninth (82) at the regional held at Valley View Golf Club in Cambridge, while Karter Patterson tied for 13th (84) and Tyson Phillips finished 16th (85).

Kewanee 1A girls sectional

Bureau County will send three golfers to the Kewanee 1A girls sectional at Baker Park in Kewanee on Monday.

St. Bede senior Gina Grivetti (7th), Bureau Valley senior Callie Schoff (10th) and Princeton senior Morgan Forristall (14th), a first-year-player, all qualified from the Rock Falls Regional.

The Dixon Duchesses, led by third-place finisher Katie Drew, advanced as a team last week at Deer Valley, and Oregon’s Ava Hackman and Lexy Davis, Rock Falls’ Cheyenne Hansen, Polo’s Kamryn Stockton, and Morrison’s Sarah Wetzell will also compete at Kewanee.