Boys golf: Kaufman, Cooper place 1-2 to lead Ottawa to regional title

MENDOTA – All season, Drake Kaufman and Jonathan Cooper have led the Ottawa boys golf team.

It was no different Wednesday as the Pirates opened the postseason.

Kaufman and Cooper finished 1-2 individually to lead Ottawa to the championship at the Class 2A Mendota Regional at Mendota Golf Club.

“We all kind of have a role,” Cooper said. “Obviously, that’s Drake and I’s role. We need to shoot good scores.”

The Pirates carded a 328 to outpace the field by 20 strokes.

La Salle-Peru (348) was second, followed by host Mendota (352) as the other teams advancing to Monday’s Sterling Sectional.

Dixon (370) placed sixth, Sterling (378) was eighth and Rock Falls (390) was ninth among the nine teams.

“I’m really happy,” Cooper said. “Now we have the next step Monday up in Sterling, so hopefully we play well there.

“We’re hoping to compete for a [sectional] championship and get to state. That’s our real goal.”

Kaufman finished with a 6-over-par 76, shooting a 39 on the front nine and a 37 on the back.

“It feels really good,” Kaufman said. “I was happy with the conditions today and how I played. The front nine was shaky. I had one pretty bad hole, but I stayed focused after that and got it together.”

Cooper turned in a 78 with a 40 on the front and a 38 on the back.

“I hung in there,” Cooper said. “It was playing really tough today because the greens were not holding anything. It would hit the front of the green and roll off, so it was tough conditions.”

The Pirates had the benefit of familiarity with the course after playing there three times in the week leading up to the regional, including in the Interstate 8 Conference Tournament on Monday.

“That helped a lot,” Kaufman said. “That made it feel almost like it was a home course. You play a course so much you just get used to it, and it makes it a lot easier when it comes to regionals.”

Also for Ottawa, Seth Cooper shot an 85 to tie for seventh, while Alex Billings and Chandler Creedon each had an 89 to tie for 13th.

L-P also had played the course recently with the Modified Ryder Cup on Saturday and the conference meet Monday, which helped Carter Fenza.

Fenza struggled Monday but bounced back to shoot an 80 to place third in the regional with matching 40s on each nine.

“It was a lot better than when we played here a few days ago for the conference,” Fenza said. “It was not good [Monday]. It felt good to have a good round.

“I hit a lot of iron shots and wedge shots closer and made a few key putts.”

L-P’s Coleman Rundle tied for fifth with an 84, while Drake Hawthorne (90) and Jon Milota (94) rounded out the scores for the Cavs.

The Trojans took advantage of playing their home course to beat out Freeport for third by 14 strokes.

“We know the course better than any other team out here, so I think it definitely gave us an advantage,” Mendota’s Drake Dennis said. “We didn’t make it out last year, and we were a little better last year, so it feels really good.”

Dennis paced Mendota as he carded an 81 to place fourth.

“My drive fell together, so chipping and putting were something I had to progress on halfway through, and when that came together, that’s when I started playing well,” Dennis said.

Rounding out the scores for Mendota were Clay Buffington (89), Owen Aughenbaugh (90) and Brody Hartt (92).

Dixon’s Alex Harrison led the individual qualifiers as he shot an 84 to finish fifth.

“I didn’t play the best front nine, but I stuck with it and on the back nine I played pretty well,” Harrison said. “I just started to hit the ball straighter and my tee shots were a lot better. All around I played much better on the back.”

Rock Falls’ Carter Dillon earned his first trip to a sectional by tying for 10th with an 87.

“It’s real nice [to advance] because last year I didn’t get to play in the regional because I had COVID, so it’s my first time playing in a regional,” Dillon said. “My back nine was really good. The front nine, my first four holes were triple (bogey), double, bogey, double. It was rough. I had a par one hole and then it just kept going after that.”

Other advancing individuals were Dixon’s Steven Kitzman (87), Sterling’s Cameron O’Brien (88) and Braden Harman (89), Stillman Valley’s Owen Dunseth (85), Freeport’s Jack Stone (86) and Rochelle’s Ian Metzger (89).