Golf: Sterling claims second straight regional title

Luckily for Sterling, Andrew Blackburn was rock solid, and he guided the Golden Warriors to a second consecutive regional title. They won a year ago in Sycamore.

Blackburn earned medalist honors with a 2-over-par 73, and Sterling
finished with a 323 team total, one fewer than runner-up Ottawa.
Princeton (348) finished third, and those three teams qualified for the Belvidere Sectional on Monday at Timber Pointe Golf Course in Poplar Grove.

There were also 10 individual qualifiers, including three from Oregon (Ben Gardner, Mitchell Nehrkorn and Brian Ostrander), two from Rock Falls (Aaron Frank and Logan White) and one from Dixon (Dan Pultorak).

Blackburn rolled in a 5-footer for birdie on the par-4 18th hole, while playing partner Lane Barbier of Ottawa hit a tree with his approach on his way to a bogey. The two-stroke swing proved to be the difference in which team earned the regional plaque.

“I figured it was tight,” said Blackburn, who repeated as regional medalist. “I didn’t hear any scores, but Ottawa got us three times this year when we played them. I knew I had to do my job. Luckily, we pulled through.”

Zach Rehmert (80), Ryan Hurley (84) and Trevor Sisson (86) had the other counting scores for Sterling. Austin Cook (87) and Kyle Sinn (101) rounded out the lineup.

The talk outside the clubhouse after the tourney was about the difficulty of the course, especially the hardness of the ground that produced a lot of run on shots. Wayward shots often ran into more trouble, or even out of bounds, but Blackburn thought it was a fair test.

“The course was tough,” he said, “but if you played it below the hole, the way it was meant to be played, it was doable.”

Oregon and Rock Falls both had hopes of advancing as a team, but came up short.

The Hawks, paired with Sterling and Ottawa in the premier groupings, stumbled to a 355 team total in their first year in 2A. Only Nehrkorn (88) played to his average, while Ben Gardner (87) and Brian Ostrander (89) also advanced to sectional.