Golf: Home-course advantage lifts PrairieView to team, individual wins at 100th Lincoln Highway

BYRON – Having won the past two Men’s Lincoln Highway Tournament team titles, PrairieView was looking for a three-peat on its home course in the 100th annual edition of the venerable golf tournament.

Not only did PrairieView make it three team titles in a row, it also took second place, as the home course gets two teams in the tournament each year.

After a fierce qualifying tournament, PrairieView filled out its two teams with 12 strong golfers – so strong, in fact, that medalist Dennis Reedy was actually the ninth qualifier in the race to fill the 12 spots.

“We just have a really good team, and we have a really strong membership out here that really wants to play in this tournament,” Wombacher said. “We had 18 guys qualify for 12 spots, and it was still a dogfight just to get to the 12th spot. We’ve got a strong team, a bunch of good guys, and they all try hard. We’ve practiced a little bit over the last couple three weeks, just tried to get some team camaraderie going, and it’s been fun.”

[ Photos from the 100th Men's Lincoln Highway Tournament ]

Reedy had a lot of fun himself, shooting a 100 over the first 27 holes on Saturday and finishing at 8-under par to take a six-shot lead over Emerald Hill’s Trevor Sisson. He followed that with a 107 on Sunday, and finished 9-under par for the full 54 holes. He had a tournament-best +22 in the best-against-bogey scoring format.

After qualifying for the third flight on PrairieView’s second team, Reedy was thrilled with the way he played all weekend.

“Tournament golf, all it comes down to is you have to make putts. It doesn’t matter where you hit it, if you can make some putts, you’re going to play well. I made a lot [Saturday], so it was good to see the ball go in the hole finally for a change,” he said. “It’s definitely in your favor that it’s your home course. I’ve seen every shot in the book here at PrairieView, so if you hit a bad one, you know where it’s going to go and you know how to play it after that.”

He said his mindset didn’t change for Day 2 after he blitzed the rest of the field on Day 1.

“You have to try to do the same thing you did the first day,” Reedy said. “It’s easier said than done, but you have to have the same mindset when you go out there with the lead: make pars; you have the bogey holes for a reason, so use them; try to lag it close and make a couple 3-footers. It’s all about making putts, and that’s all you’ve got to do.”

While Reedy was shooting two of the top six scores in the tournament, two-time defending champion Wombacher rallied from a 109 over his first 27 holes to fire the second-best score of the weekend with a 104 on Sunday.

He was even for his first 18 holes, 1-over for his second 18, then fired a 4-under 68 over his final 18 holes – including a 3-under 33 over his final nine – to rally from a four-way tie for fifth place after Day 1 up to the second spot by the end of the tournament.

“It was a little rough [Saturday], but today I just said to myself, ‘You know what, I’ve got to try and go get Dennis,’ so I wanted to make a lot of birdies and see what happens,” Wombacher said. “I was trying to get to 9 or 10 under, shoot as low as I possibly could. I didn’t do it, but at least I came back a little bit, saved face.”

Wombacher’s 213 was good for a +19 against bogey, the second-best score on that front as well. He led a solid effort throughout the entire lineup for the PrairieView 1 team, as all six players finished in the top 25 in the medalist race.

Wombacher won the first flight, Andrew Canfield (218, +14) won the second flight, Trent Snodgrass (218, +16) won the third flight, Tim Marcum (224, +10) won the fourth flight, and Justin Sick (230, +4) was second in the sixth flight. Maison Brandt chipped in a +7 (226) to take third in the fifth flight, as PrairieView 1 amassed a +70 to win the best-against-bogey race by 28 points over PrairieView 2.

In addition to Reedy’s +22 score, PrairieView 2 also got a +13 from Ryan Jahn and a +7 from Trent Eddy in the first two flights on its way to a +42.

Familiarity with the course is always a big help, and Reedy said it’s especially key coming down the final stretch to close out a long two-day weekend.

“It definitely helps on the back nine, the last nine coming in, it makes you feel a lot better when you’re at home that you can finish strong. You know the nine you’re playing, and it’s a good feeling,” he said. “It’s awesome to have this golf course to play on, and we’re very honored to have this tournament here for the 100th year. It’s awesome to have it here.”

Timber Creek took third with a +16, shooting a +11 as a team on Day 2. Luke Hoffman won the fifth flight with a +10, Ryan Marshall took the sixth flight with a +6, and Scott Hargrave was runner-up in the fourth flight with a +9 to lead the Dixon club. Ryan Harrison added a +5 in the second flight.

Hoffman tied Emerald Hill’s Jason Welker for the top spot in the fifth flight, and won the first-place trophy on a tee-flip tiebreaker, as neither player wanted to go out and play a playoff hole. Hoffman said the key for him was consistency off the tee and with his approach shots.

“Everything was really solid tee to green. I missed a couple 4-foot putts all day, kind of made the round a little tough, kind of got deflated after missing one, but I bounced back pretty good and kept a steady head all day, and that’s the key here,” he said. “You make a bad shot, just blow it off, don’t let it snowball on you.

“We bounced back today as a team. We’ve got a great team, we’ve been with each other for a while, so it was nice to get some good rounds in today. The team did well.”

Emerald Hill was in third place after shooting a +12 on Saturday but couldn’t keep up the momentum on Day 2. The team finished in fourth place with a two-day total of -2, led by flight runners-up Jarred Hippen (first flight, +15), Sisson (second flight, +8) and Welker (fifth flight, +10).

Hippen’s 218 stroke total tied him for third with the PrairieView 1 duo of Canfield and Snodgrass, and Sisson and Welker both shot 225 to tie for 13th place overall. Veterans of the Lincoln Highway, Hippen said a patient mindset and smart play were main factors in their success.

“The whole tournament, until the last two holes, I only hit one ball out of bounds; I was just staying safe, hitting irons off tees, putting myself in good positions,” Hippen said. “I think Reedy was up 10 strokes on me with 15 to play, and I just started ripping with my driver; I knew I had to make a run. But when a guy’s 10 strokes ahead, he has to play bad and you have to play good to even have a chance.

“Reedy just played incredible. It was an incredible tournament by him, and he deserves to win. It was fun to watch him play, he was on fire all day.”

Deer Valley placed fifth as a team with a -14, led by Joe Mills’ sixth-place finish. He shot 111 on Saturday and followed that with a 109 on Sunday, and his +13 score against bogey tied PrairieView 2′s Jahn for third in the first flight. Josh Eggleston added a +6 to take third in the third flight.

Sunset was sixth with a -26, led by Scott Aken’s +4 in the first flight and Adam Marshall’s +3 in the second flight. Fairways was seventh (-31), Indian Oaks placed eighth (-32), and Mendota took ninth (-35) in its first year in the LHT. Troy Bauer (+11) took second in the third flight for Mendota.

Shady Oaks finished 10th with a -63, led by Cole Ruckman’s +7 in the first flight. He tied with Jahn for seventh individually with a 222.

Lost Nation rounded out the 11-team field at -105.