Baley Lehr looking to win fourth straight IV Men’s Golf Championship

Baley Lehr has already cemented himself as one of the top golfers to play in the area’s men’s golf championship.

Lehr is one of only three players, along with Tom Clancy and Marty DeAngelo, to win three consecutive Illinois Valley Men’s Golf Championships or its predecessor, the NewsTribune Area Wide Men’s Golf Championship.

This weekend, Lehr goes for history as he attempts to become the first player to ever win four in a row.

The first round is Saturday at Edgewood Park Golf Course in McNabb and the second round on Sunday at Mendota Golf Club.

“It would just be a cool thing to accomplish,” Lehr said. “Obviously, every tournament I go into I hope to win. To be able to win four in a row against the level of competition we have in this area would just be a cool accomplishment to have.”

Lehr has played in one other tournament this summer, placing third at the Pine Hills Invitational.

“[I’ve been playing] up and down,” Lehr said. “Some good and some bad. For the most part, I’ve been pretty steady this year. I had some spurts of pretty good play and then had some spurts of meh, but overall the last couple weeks I feel like I’ve started to play a lot better.”

Lehr said he is pretty familiar with Edgewood but doesn’t have as much experience at Mendota.

“I’m very familiar with Edgewood,” Lehr said. “I played it last weekend. I’ve played that course quite a bit. It’s a course I like to travel to and play at least a couple times per year. Edgewood is a course I’m pretty comfortable with. I think it fits my eye and I generally play pretty well there.

“Mendota I played a couple times in high school and I played it a couple years ago in this tournament, but I really don’t play Mendota too often, so I’m really not familiar with Mendota.”

There is a strong field looking to prevent Lehr’s historic win, including several talented players who call Edgewood or Mendota home.

IVCC golfer Ian Roach, who placed third in the tournament last year and finished tied for seventh in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament as a freshman, shot a course record 62 at Edgewood last week.

Other Edgewood golfers in the mix are fellow IVCC golfer Ben Cyr, Caleb Dzierzynski and Brandon Kays.

Strong Mendota golfers include Troy Bauer, who has multiple runner-up finishes, Jon Prescott and co-tournament director Patrick Goy, who placed third the last time the tournament was at Edgewood and Mendota.

There are plenty of talented golfers outside of Edgewood and Mendota, including five-time champion Jeremy DeBernardi, Jesse Cavanaugh (the last player to win before Lehr), co-director Mason Kimberley, who was runner-up the last time the tournament was at Edgewood and Mendota, T.J. Templeton, 2020 runner-up Doug Pinter and Baley’s father, Brian Lehr.

“There are a bunch of guys who are in it to win it, for sure,” Kimberley said. “It seems like every single year we see more and more talent and more and more people who can contend. It’s going to be something to see.”

Including the championship class, there are about 160 golfers in the tournament.

“It’s the best spread we’ve had as far as championship all the way through senior class,” Kimberley said. “We have at least 24 players in every division so every class is going to be super competitive, which is what we like to see. I remember when Patrick and I first ran the tournament, we only had six or seven in C class. Now we’re up to 27 in that division.

“It’s awesome to see players of every skill level are wanting to come out and compete.”