Boys golf: Hersey storms back to win ‘gunfight’ sectional at Heritage Oaks behind Lockwood’s eagle-birdie-birdie finish
And you thought that the best Chicagoland golf event of the season was at Medinah.
The United States victory at the 2026 President’s Cup was not half as dramatic as Hersey’s improbable comeback at the IHSA boys 3A sectional at Heritage Oaks on Monday afternoon.
If Jackson Koivun’s Cup-clinching approach shot on Medinah’s 18th hole was the one signature moment in the United States victory eight days ago, Hersey’s improbable victory may have had 20.
Every single shot mattered as the Huskies finished tied at 278 atop the leaderboard with New Trier, needing a fifth-score tiebreaker to claim the sectional title.
Hersey doesn’t come out on top at Heritage Oaks if junior Davis Lockwood doesn’t put his drive on the 290-yard 16th hole to four feet and finish eagle-birdie-birdie on his final three holes. The Huskies were not even in position to finish in the top three and move on to the IHSA state tournament this weekend before Davis Lockwood took his tee shot on 16.
Nor does Hersey win if Davis’ twin-brother Colin doesn’t hole-out from 184 yards out on No. 7 for an albatross. Or if Mid-Suburban League golfer of the year Julian Bugara doesn’t drain a 10-footer for birdie on 18 to cap a team-best 5-under 65.
Or if senior Henry Esposito doesn’t grind out eight back-nine pars for a 74.
Or if junior Michael Szabo and senior Sahvan Patel don’t both finish birdie-par-par to tie at 76 and bring home the fifth-score tiebreaker.
It’s even possible that none of the 24 professional golfers at the President’s Cup played a better single round than Monday afternoon's individual champion Lester Low, as the Evanston junior set a course record with a 10-under 60 that included a hole-in-one on No. 6.
Low’s Wildkits finished two shots behind Hersey and New Trier, clinching the final team berth to state with a third-place 280.
“This was a gunfight,” said Hersey coach Dan Caporusso. “Hole-in-ones, albatrosses, eagles. This is an incredible sectional. We’re talking about the best teams in the state, the best individual players, packed together in this place. And the kids just unleashed. It was a shootout.”
Caporusso called New Trier and Evanston two “giants.” The veteran Hersey coach, who was inducted into the Illinois Coaches Association hall of fame in 2024, had just one 3A sectional title to his name in his three decades before Monday's victory.
Hersey’s Szabo said he and his team singled out No. 8 and No. 9 at Heritage Oaks in their preparation as the two most difficult holes on the course. No. 9 is a tight 450-yard par 4, and No. 8 is a long 200-yard par 3.
“Our strategy was just to play for bogey balls,” said Szabo. “Our main goal was just to avoid doubles at all cost, to try to go to one-over between both those holes.”
Hersey’s six golfers finished 7-over on those two holes, but they avoided a single double bogey. The Huskies combined to finish one-over on the other 16 holes.
Hersey took special advantage of Heritage Oaks’ seventh hole. Capped by Colin Lockwood’s albatross and an eagle from Patel, the Huskies finished seven-under on the 484-yard par 5.
“Hats off to them,” said New Trier coach Josh Nasshan. “Hersey played some really impressive golf. If you’re going to lose, you want to go out there and get beaten. And they finished strong and earned that win.”
The advancing individuals included indivdual champion Jack Bell from Fremd who shot 67 and teammate Tyler Douglass at 68. Fremd finished fifth as a team at 289.
Other individual state qualifiers included York’s Grant Hickman (69) and Gage Jacobs (70), Mundelen’s Carson Koenigsknecht (71), and Prospect’s Luke Ginsberg (71) and Ryan Murray (71).