Golf: PrairieView takes team, individual titles for second straight year at Men’s Lincoln Highway Golf Tournament

AMBOY – It was a repeat performance for Jason Wombacher and PrairieView at the 99th Men’s Lincoln Highway Tournament on Sunday at Shady Oaks Country Club.

Wombacher fired a 4-under-par 209 and scored a +30 in the best-against-bogey format to win his second consecutive Lincoln Highway title, and PrairieView placed all six golfers in positive numbers to score a +93 and notch its second straight team championship.

“It’s great, definitely, two years in a row for me and the team, and that’s a big bonus, for sure,” Wombacher said. “We’ll go for three in a row next year; the turkey is going to be hard, but we’ve got a good group of golfers.”

Also for the Byron club, Trent Eddy won the sixth flight with a +18, and Trent Snodgrass won the second flight at +17. Andrew Canfield added a +15 in the first flight, Dennis Reedy had a +7 in the fourth flight, and Trent Brown had a +6 in the fifth flight.

Wombacher’s +30 total was five points better than runner-up Trevor Sisson of Emerald Hill, and his 209 total was seven shots ahead of Sisson.

“I hit a lot of really solid iron shots, and my irons were good most of the weekend,” Wombacher said. “I hit my driver OK, but you don’t use driver a lot out here, and I putted well, for the most part. I kind of limped it in on the last nine, but luckily got it done.”

Sisson played in the final foursome with Wombacher, and lamented that he couldn’t put a little more pressure on the defending champ. Still, he was happy with his 3-over-par 216 and +25 against bogey.

“My wedges were really good, and if I hit it close, I made my birdies,” Sisson said. “I didn’t have any big misses, and only had two minuses in the best-against-bogey the whole weekend. Only one double [bogey], made a lot of birdies, made a big eagle. I just tried to keep it in play and keep it steady and take whatever came to me.”

Playing on its home course, Shady Oaks took second behind PrairieView with a +63. Steve Hanson led the way with a +21 to win the first flight, and his 222 was the fourth-best stroke-play score.

Dave Kemp won the fourth flight with a +19, with Sparky Larkin (+12) and Matt Welty (+9) taking second in the third and sixth flights. Cole Ruckman added a +15, losing a playoff for the runner-up spot in the second flight; Larkin won a playoff to take second in the third flight, chipping in on the second playoff hole.

“It’s nice to take second; obviously we wanted to win here at home, but we just got beat by a better team,” Hanson said. “I think we played pretty well and gave it the best we had, but it wasn’t quite good enough.”

Despite winning the first flight by two points over Deer Valley’s Joe Mills, Hanson felt he left a lot of strokes out in the course.

“It was a struggle,” he said. “I didn’t putt very well, and I never got comfortable, but I just kind of battled through it. I guess my wedge game was decent from 70 yards and in, which saved me a few shots here and there. But I didn’t feel like I played my best at all.”

Mills was the lone Deer Valley player to finish with a plus against bogey, and his 221 was the third-best score in stroke play. He credited a strong mental game with his finish, as he had to bounce back from a rough start.

“I struggled mightily on the first nine holes of the day Saturday, and then hit it really well the rest of the way,” Mills said. “I don’t know what changed; honestly, I think I just started hitting the ball the right way. I was happy with how I stayed focused, didn’t just get upset when I hit those bad shots in the early parts of the round, and then ended up shooting pretty well for the 54 holes.

“I just had to let those first nine holes go, shake them off and put them behind me, and I’m very happy with how I ended up.”

Emerald Hill of Sterling took third as a team with a +58. In addition to Sisson’s runner-up finish in the medalist hunt, Jarred Hippen won the third flight with a +13, and Nick Ceruzzi was second in the fifth flight with a +8. Jacob Rude added a +10 in the fourth flight, and Luke Hoffmann was +7 in the first flight.

“The goal coming in was definitely to win; our qualifier was super hard even to make the team, everybody played phenomenal. We do have a lot of good experience, but this course can just get you,” Sisson said. “I think on a different track that sets up better for us, I think we’d be up there better. Our players tried grinding, but this course can get you, and it’s tough to hang in there.”

“You’ve got to give it to PrairieView though, they were lights out.”

Sunset of Mt. Morris finished fourth at +47. Scott Aken led the way with a +15 in the first flight, while Carson Buck scored a +12 in the third flight, losing the two-hole playoff to Larkin. Brian Weidman was +11 in the second flight, and Lou Finch finished at +9 in the fourth flight in his first Lincoln Highway.

Fairways of Rochelle finished fifth at +36. Josh Johnson won the fifth flight with a +16, and Thomas Brennan won the playoff for the runner-up spot in the second flight at +15. Jon Woeppel added a +10 in the first flight.

Indian Oaks of Shabbona was the only other team to finish in positive numbers, scoring a +19 against bogey. Kyle Davis was second in the fourth flight at +18, and Matt Davis added a +11 in the first flight.

Timber Creek of Dixon was seventh with a -40, led by Joel Kipping’s +6 in the first flight and Bob Venier’s +4 in the third flight.

Deer Valley of Deer Grove was eighth at -50, followed by Shady Oaks’ second team at -57. Rock River of Rock Falls was -95, and Lost Nation of Dixon finished at -105.