With six holes to play in Monday’s 18-team, 18-hole Pirate Invitational hosted by Ottawa at Deer Park Country Club in Oglesby, Burlington Central senior Tyler Samaan was at even par and a few shots off the lead.

He then found the momentum he would need to help him the rest of the way, carding an eagle and then back-to-back birdies to claim the individual championship. Samaan posted a 4-under-par 66 and won the scorecard tiebreaker over Peoria Christian’s Drew Gama thanks to the eagle.

“I think I had about 190 to the hole (on the par-5 No. 18), talked with my coaches about the next shot and just trusted our thought process,” Samaan said. “From there I was able to put it about 10 feet from the pin and made the putt for eagle. It was a momentum boaster for sure.

“I’ll admit, I’m a scoreboard watcher so I knew what I needed to do my last few holes. In the humblest way I kind of feed off pressure, so with a few holes to go and knowing where I was on the leaderboard I really locked in.”

Samaan’s late push, a best-ever round (68) and third-place finish from junior teammate Matthew Zierk, and counting scores from Colin Gritzman (ninth, 73) and Evan Sarallo (77) helped the Rockets finish runner-up as a team (284), just a stroke behind champion Normal U-High (283).

The host Pirates placed third with a 290, followed by Sycamore (fifth, 312), Streator (sixth, 313) and Kaneland (seventh, 315). Geneseo, Morris and Peoria Christian tied for eighth with a 318 to round out the top 10.

Zierk said he felt his play on and around the green was the key to his fantastic round.

“I putted the ball very well today,” Zierk said. “I was able to make a couple of solid putts early and from there I just had confidence in myself that if I could put the ball near the hole that I was going to make my putt.

“I feel like having the confidence I had on the green and being able to consistently put myself in in good spots with my short game was the biggest key to my round. Playing well myself and the team also finishing second make me feel great.”

Ottawa junior Bryer Harris led his team, placing fifth with a 1-under 69. The Pirates also had counting scores from James Threadgill (73), Jacob Armstrong (74) and Logan Cottingham (74).

“I felt like I hit the ball solid much of the round,” Harris said. “I did a really good job of not getting myself into trouble or putting myself into situations where I had to make a spectacular shot to save myself. The couple times I did get in a tight spot I was able to make a solid shot to get myself back on track.

“I felt like I played pretty well, and we shot one stroke better as a team than we did last year. I’ll take it.”

Dixon junior Brody Nicklaus claimed the final individual medal after finishing 10th with a 73.

“I just really wanted to play good today with so many really good golfers and teams here,” Nicklaus said. “My mindset today was just to make the simple swing from start to finish. My mental game was solid, and my irons and short game were pretty solid. Playing well around the green helped me post a couple birdies and give myself some makable putts.

Other Shaw coverage-area players that finished in the top 25 of the 108-player field included Streator’s Kolden Neumann (11th, 73), Hall’s Joseph Perez (14th, 74), Sycamore’s Gavin Sedevie (19th, 74), Ottawa’s Colt Bryson (20th, 75), Morris’s Wyatt Schultz (21st, 75), La Salle-Peru’s Adan Chiu (22nd, 75) and Kaneland’s Hayden Deutsch (25th, 77).