Girls golf: St. Charles North cruises to regional crown

Nine of the 63 players who teed it up at the Class 2A Burlington Central girls golf regional Wednesday were able to break 80 at the Sycamore Golf Club.

When four of those nine play on the same team, it is pretty easy to see which school dominated the 10-team field.

Megan Furtney fired a 73, Katelyn David finished at 76 and Sarah Arnold and Emma Hayes both shot 77s leading St. Charles North to a 303 total - 28 better than runner-up St. Charles East.

Third-place Crystal Lake Co-op came in at 336 and will join the North Stars and Saints at Monday's Barrington sectional at Makray Memorial Golf Course.

"Four scores in the 70s is always good," David said.

"We've been playing really well," Furtney said. "There's a couple girls who are totally pleased with how they played today but even for our off-days we still come out with a good score as a team so we're feeling pretty good going into sectionals."

Furtney tied Burlington Central junior Sydney Killeen for first. The two played the par 4 third hole to break the tie.

Furtney went with a 3-wood off the tee. From 110 yards out she hit a wedge to about 15 feet, then 2-putted for par. Killeen came up short of the green with her second shot, then couldn't get her par putt to drop.

"I find that stuff (playoff) pretty exciting and it almost gets me going more," said Furtney, who only hit her driver once on the back nine after a screw that connects the head came loose. "I don't think of the consequences, I just go out and play. It's almost a match play kind of mindset."

Furtney, who won the Upstate Eight title last week, birdied the ninth and 15th while watching a few other putts slide by.

"I had a lot of good opportunities but couldn't get a putt to drop," Furtney said. "I think today especially they had a lot of really tough pin placements out there. That made it kind of tricky to drop a lot of putts."

David was consistent with a 38 on both the front and back for her 76. She recovered from a double bogey on the fifth by birdieing the ninth, then made 5 pars and 4 bogeys on the back.

"I'm really happy with it," David said. "I was putting really well and my chips were going well. I wasn't hitting many greens but my chipping was good.

"We played here last year and this year I think it played a little longer because it was a little wetter."

St. Charles East's Riley Sullivan tied David for fourth place, shooting a 39 on the front and 37 on the back for a 76.

"I had some really good holes and some not so good ones," Sullivan said. "I wasn't hitting driver well today so I missed a lot of greens but I was able to get up and down quite often. That was good."

Sullivan's only birdie came on the par 4 12th when she hit a bump and run shot with her 9-iron from a "really weird lie" to about 15 feet, then drained the putt.

"You can't be mad at a 76," Sullivan said. "I'm glad we made it to sectionals for our senior year. I didn't start out well but held it together on the front and was able to finish pretty strong on the back."

Nicole Jordan's 77, an 83 for Grace Westerhoff and Haley York's 95 were the four counting scores for the Saints.

It was an amazing round for Killeen, who said she had never shot better than "the low 80s" on the Rockets' home course. She went from a tie for the 10th individual spot as a sophomore last year to tying the Duke-bound Furtney for first.

"I had a really good day," Killeen said. "I was really excited. My putting was really good. By far my best score. I've been doing really well lately - I think going to The Highlands and practicing chipping and putting has helped me and I've been taking more time on my second shot."

Those approach shots were the key to her round Wednesday. She hit several close and was able to make birdie on No. 6, then three straight from No. 9 to No. 11, and she notched her fifth birdie on the par 3 15th.

"She was hitting darts today," Burlington Central coach Kyle Nelson said.

Killeen, who will be joined at the sectional by teammate Carli Niesel (92), also credited sinking a long uphill putt to save a double bogey on the first hole with giving her momentum.

"Because my (approach) shots were so good, I landed them pretty close to the pin so I didn't have that long of putts today," Killeen said.

Sophomore Molly Lyne led Crystal Lake with a 75.

Jacobs' Roslyn Leitner fired an 83 to qualify for the sectional. Geneva's Darby Lillibridge and Avery Frick both shot 84s to advance as individuals. Huntley, who finished fourth in the team standings 24 shots behind Crystal Lake, has three individuals moving on: Katie Weidner (87), Maggie Matustik (88) and Nina Shaffer (91).

South Elgin's Linsey Toondarack earned a sectional spot with her 92.