Even in a roller-coaster season, Ottawa’s Drake Kaufman steady on his way to Times Boys Golfer of the Year

While Drake Kaufman called his senior season on the golf course kind of a roller coaster, in the big picture he was the same as he’s always been.

As steady as they come.

Kaufman’s season looked a lot like his 2022 and 2021 seasons, right down to his finishing at the IHSA State Finals. And like those two prior years, it was enough to make him the The Times Boys Golfer of the Year.

“It was a little up-and-down this year, you know?” Kaufman said. “I started off mediocre, not great, and then I started to figure things out halfway through the season and then went down a little bit again, and then sort of finished it out a little better. State wasn’t great, but every big tournament and match leading up to state was solid.

“It was kind of a roller coaster.”

At the end of the ride, however, Kaufman’s 37.9 nine-hole average, individual advancement to the 2023 Class 2A State Finals with Ottawa just missing the team cut and Kaufman’s tied-for-30th showing at state looked a lot like his 37.6 average, individual advancement to the 2022 Class 2A State Finals with Ottawa just missing the team cut and Kaufman’s tied-for 30th showing at state of a year ago.

That steadiness even through occasional struggles was one of the reasons coaching Kaufman was such a joy for Pirates boys golf coach Keith Budzowski.

“It’s super nice. He was just so steady all four years,” Budzowski said.

“You go into a tournament, and a lot of times I’ll spend time watching a few more holes of the younger kids. With Drake and the older guys, I could just let them go do their thing. You don’t worry about them too much. They can handle the course themselves.”

Of course, another reason Budzowski appreciated his four years coaching the three-time state qualifier – and it would have been four if not for COVID wiping out the IHSA State Finals during Kaufman’s freshman campaign – is that Kaufman happens to be really, really good at golf.

“I think it’s just dedication to the game,” Budzowski said. “He didn’t start playing until seventh grade, late, but he knew what he wanted to play and had an athletic type of mindset, so he knew he had to work at it.

“He got into playing tournaments early, so that helps. You see where other kids are at, and he knew where he wanted to be. Just having that mindset – ‘I’m not going to settle for being OK. I want to be great’ – that’s sort of what sets him apart.

“I think Drake will go down as one of the better players to go through the Ottawa program. Some of it is natural ability, but you still have to want to work really hard and want to better yourself.”

“I think Drake will go down as one of the better players to go through the Ottawa program. Some of it is natural ability ... but you still have to want to work really hard and want to better yourself.”

—  Keith Budzowski, Ottawa boys golf coach

Kaufman had motivation to improve his game this past fall, a season during which things maybe didn’t come quite as easily. He worked his way through it by concentrating on his game, not his opponents, and with a lot of self-evaluation at the range.

He captured the championship of the Illinois Valley Central Invitational and added two runner-up finishes, including in a playoff for a regional championship with teammate Chandler Creedon.

“It was awesome,” Kaufman said despite losing that playoff. “Everyone was asking, ‘You wanna do it? You wanna do it?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I wanna do it.’

“He got me. I hit a couple bad shots on the playoff hole, but it was fun. I like doing stuff like that, especially when you know our team is already sitting good. It was fun. I thought it was cool.”

Ottawa advanced to sectionals as a team, but like the previous season just missed the cut to move onto state. Kaufman, on the strength of a third-place finish as sectionals, advanced alone, tying for 30th place in a Class 2A field of 112 with a two-day, 36-hole 158.

Next up, the three-time Times Boys Golfer of the Year plans to attend and play golf at Illinois Central College. He hopes to get recruited out of that two-year school and keep playing from there, but regardless can look back at his high school years as a Pirate fondly.

“I was happy,” he said. “I had a great four years, you know? I got to meet a bunch of people. It’s how golf goes, I was up and down, scores fluctuate and whatnot, but for the most part I feel like every year you could see things that got progressively better.”