Boys golf: Jacobs' Tighe, Geneva's Isenhart shine at South Elgin Invite

Jacobs' Garrett Tighe needed to straighten out his woods as he made the turn at the Elgin Country Club on Tuesday afternoon.

"The front nine I hit it in the trees all day," Tighe said.

But it was an entirely different inward nine for Tighe in Elgin.

With back-to-back birdies on separate occasions on the back-nine par-37, Tighe stitched together five pars on his other holes to come home in 33.

The Tighe 1-over 73, runner-up to returning all-stater Tyler Isenhart of Geneva, powered Jacobs to the 17-team South Elgin boys golf invitational championship.

Jacobs' Riley Coakley complemented Tighe with a front-nine 33 to in finishing with a fourth-place 77.

The Eagles' Daniel Leitner (84), John Wilken (86) and Jared Gray (86) completed Jacobs' 320-331 victory over two-time reigning Class 3A state qualifier Geneva.

Marmion (340) was third behind the third-place 75 from Jimmy Morton.

Bartlett (342), Dundee-Crown (342), South Elgin (343), Hampshire (353), Huntley (361), Batavia (373) and West Aurora (378) rounded out the top 10.

"I didn't expect to shoot 4-under (on the back)," said Tighe, who recorded birdies on Nos. 11, 12, 14 and 15. "I think that's my lowest nine-hole score (in relation to par). It went well on the back."

Coakley did all of his damage on the front nine, conversely.

"I was making a lot of the short (putts for par) that actually mattered," Coakley said. "I wasn't hitting the ball that great, but the putts were going in."

Like the entire field, Isenhart had to navigate the sloping fairways and peculiar greens, many of which featured false fronts that repelled short shots well off the green.

"You had a lot of stances that were different," Isenhart said. "I allowed a couple of yards to land it past the hole. I wasn't hitting the ball great, but it was pretty tough with the wind."

After a flawless 8-par and birdie front side, the Vikings' junior, who tied for third in the state finals last fall, captured his second major individual title this season with a level-par 72.

But Geneva could muster a second-best score no better than 84 in falling short of Jacobs.

"We had enough to get it done today," Jacobs coach Gary Conrad said.

Morton authored the shot of the day.

The Cadets' junior ran his second shot up the green on the par-4 17th into the hole for an eagle.

"I was like 80 yards out and had to punch it through two trees," Morton said. "It was a good break. I was on the bogey train for a while. I made 3 birdies after that. I was happy with my finish. I was 6 over through my first 11 holes."

Marmion junior Austen Velazquez fired a 79.

Hampshire junior Mark Spitzer was fifth on a tiebreaker to earn fifth overall with a 78.

"Off the tee, I wasn't very good," Spitzer said. "(But) I was able to drop a couple of birdies."