WW South wins Burlington regional

The Wheaton Warrenville South girls golf team had the perfect formula to win the Class AA Burlington Central regional in Sycamore on Wednesday: collectively reduce your scores on the back nine.

Renee Solberg, the Tigers’ lone returning state qualifier, had a minor reduction to her inward nine with a 37 to augment her opening-nine 39 to leave the junior runner-up with a 5-over 76.

But the Tigers’ Emily Johnson, Kelly Anderson and Ayomide Coker combined to reduce their back-nine scores by 18 strokes to enable WW South to deny St. Charles North, which had the regional medalist in junior Ariana Furrie, 340-343 at Sycamore Golf Club.

St. Charles East snared the third and final team berth to the St. Ignatius sectional at Cog Hill No. 3 on Tuesday in Lemont with a 351.

Geneva had three at-large qualifiers to place fourth, followed by West Chicago, South Elgin-Bartlett-Streamwood co-op, Batavia and host Central.

“The par is 37 on the front (nine) and 34 on the back here, so the scores are going to be skewed,” WW South coach Art Tang said of the disparity in scores between nines for his players. “We were looking for the win.”

Solberg opened play with an eagle 3 at the first hole but ultimately made the turn 2-over after 5-putting one green for the first of two triple-bogeys on her round.

But the Tigers’ junior standout was lethal with her driver, reducing many of the par-4s to mere flip wedges on her approach shots.

Solberg nearly drove the par-4 12th for one simple birdie, and her second birdie on her inward half came at No. 16 after her wedge shot flew immediately over the hole.

“Today I was able to focus in on my driver swing,” Solberg said. “That (approach at 16) was just a perfect wedge. I put a good swing on it, and it nearly went in. I just said, “Let’s go for the birdie.’ ”

Johnson also has two years of state finals appearances under her belt, but the senior surged on the front nine with a uncharacteristic 11-over par total.

“I started off with an 8 on the first hole,” Johnson said. “I kind of woke up after I saw the (front-nine) 48 on the scorecard. The par-4s (on the outward nine) were so much longer than usual.”

Johnson fired a 40 on her inward nine to duplicate the scores of Anderson and Coker.

West Chicago sophomore Hanna Netisingha was the lone player to advance for her school with a 92, 10 shots inside the individual cut line.

Furry had seen enough after struggling out of the gate.

The North Stars junior, looking to defend her regional championship, was devastating over her last 10 holes.

Furry birdied the ninth hole to make the turn in 41, and it was only the start of a nearly flawless inward nine.

After back-to-back miscues at Nos. 11 and 12, Furrie drained a 25-footer for another birdie at 13.

The majestic par-3 14th played at 158 yards, but Furrie hit a high-arching 5-iron draw to within 8 feet.

Furry drained the putt for her second run of consecutive birdies.

The North Stars’ leader sandwiched pars around birdie at No. 17 to record a 32 on her back nine, 73 overall for medalist honors.

“I didn’t want to stay on that bogey train,” Furrie said. “(The long birdie putt at 13) told me I could come back. I don’t try to hit a draw, it just kind of showed up.”

The Furrie gem is believed to be the lowest nine-hole score in program history.

“We’ve had a couple of 34s, maybe a 33,” St. Charles North coach Chris Patrick said.

Jordyn McFarlane had her low round of the season, an 83 to place sixth overall, for the North Stars’ second anchor score; Jessica Grill (90) and Jorie Hurckes (97) were the final scorers for St. Charles North.

Paige Jordan was in the featured foursome with Furrie, Solberg and Geneva Upstate Eight Conference champion Abby Luchtenburg.

The junior helped lead the Saints to the sectional team berth with a squad-low 83.

“I had my own momentum on the front,” Jordan said. “I tried go for the birdies to make up for the doubles. I just didn’t play smart on the greens.”

Jane Noelker (86), Corey Guckien (87) and Jordan Thomas (95) rounded out the Saints’ scoring.

Luchtenberg had three critical up-and-downs to save par in succession on her back side to frame her rounds of 43 and 39; the 82 was good enough for fifth place overall.

“I was trying to grind (my round) out,” Luchtenburg said. “The three up and downs were good to start that (back nine) out.”

Megan Kelly had a 38 on her back nine to make the individual cut with an 88 for Geneva, which sophomore Megan Rush also accomplished.

Batavia senior Tara Cullerton began her day on the back nine, firing 1-over on that side to frame a fourth-place 80 for the Bulldogs’ lone sectional berth.

“I kind of stopped hitting my irons well, stopped making putts,” Cullerton said of her 10-shot difference in nines. “I didn’t see a huge difference (in playability between the nines).”

Kaneland freshman Tori Guyton captured the final individual berth by winning a three-man playoff with a par at the first.

“After getting a 10 on one hole, I thought I was out for sure,” said Guyton, whose older sister Hayley was a four-time state qualifier for the Knights.

The younger Guyton did not decide to play golf until the last minute.

“I just didn’t want to be compared to my sister,” Guyton said.

Despite not having any of its local schools advance as a team, it was not a total loss for the Fox programs.

Bartlett senior Sam Coyne narrowly missed a top-five medal after crafting back-to-back 42s for an 84 overall.

“I wish I could have started better on my front (the back side at Sycamore),” Coyne said. “I guess my putting was a little off today. I shot 42-42; it was about the same (difficulty-wise on the two nines).”

Jenna Kurosky was the lone survivor for the host Rockets.

The Central sophomore benefited from some home cooking to earn a trip to Cog Hill with her 93.

“It’s a great benefit (to play at home),” Kurosky said. “It’s easier (to make) par. (My overall game) was really good. Everything was good, except for my aiming.”

Larkin junior Alison Smith did not have the benefit of a team to fall back on as the Royals’ program had only three competitors.

“I couldn’t count on the team score,” Smith said after shooting a 93 to make the individual cut line by 9 shots. “I didn’t have a (cut line) number in mind (coming in.) There was some good (shots) and bad (shots) as always. I’m happy with the outcome.”