Boys golf: Sigourney wins SICL golf title
May 2—OSKALOOSA — It's been a battle all year long.
Seemingly every dual involving South Iowa Cedar League teams has come down to a handful of shots.
Fittingly, the battle for the SICL tournament title was also a battle between multiple teams with a very small margin for error. Of the 10 teams that produced team scores in the 18-hole tournament, four teams finished within eight strokes of receiving the conference's championship trophy as the best boys golf team this season.
"Every meet we've had this year seems to have been decided this year by one or two shots," Sigourney head boys golf coach Zach Tremmel said. "I really felt like there were five or six teams that had a chance coming into the tournament that could win it."
In the end, Tremmel was able to hand the SICL championship trophy to his own team. Even with a scorecard error that caused what would have been an all-conference round of 83 by Isaac Bruns to be wiped away, the Savages produced enough balance to bring home a score of 336 on Tuesday at the Oskaloosa Golf Course, edging BGM by three strokes with Keota and Montezuma both coming up just eight strokes short of capturing the conference tournament title.
"This is the first time where all of us played good on the same day," Tremmel said. "We usually only get about three good scores and we struggle to get that fourth one. We actually got five good scores in this tournament. It's just unfortunate that error happened to Isaac.
"Overall, it was a great day for Sigourney."
With so many teams in contention to win the SICL tournament, the Savages were determined to put in the extra work even if Mother Nature wasn't going to cooperate. Despite a rainy weekend days before the conference tournament, Sigourney golfers headed out on to the course at Oskaloosa to prepare themselves to produce the winning scores on Tuesday.
"Our kids were over here battling and playing golf in the rain," Tremmel said. "We had a couple of kids start off rough that were able to really turn things around on the second nine. It took a total team effort."
Leading the effort as Solon Yates, who came within a stroke of winning the SICL individual championship on Tuesday after bringing in a 76 including a birdie on his closing hole, the 523-yard par-5 12th hole. HLV junior Peyton Roth, however, was able to edge Yates for the SICL tournament's top score with a birdie on the closing 18th to finish off a round of 75.
"We knew everything would matter, but we were very confident going into this," Yates said. "We talked the night before. We felt good about the fact we could string good scores together.
"You just have to focus on the next shot and whatever happens happens. I don't try to focus on how important each shot is at the time. I just try to stay mentally focused on the next shot."
Staying mentally focused on the next shot and having a short memory helped Sigourney produce the balanced attack that was needed to achieve a conference team title. Cain Weber shook off a rough start to his round, nearly earning all-conference honors finishing with a round of 85 for the Savages placing 11th overall after a card-off gave Dominic Coleman of BGM the edge in a four-way tie for 10th place.
"Cain's first shot of the day, he shanked directly out of bounds," Tremmel said. "There are younger kids that would have probably hung it up and been done for the day. He ended up salvaging a 45 on his opening nine before he finished with a 40, which proved to be huge for us."
Rounds of 87 by Josh Wyatt and 88 by Ike Molyneux helped Sigourney edge BGM, who also produced four rounds below 90 in the tournament. The Savages will look to carry that momentum into the Class 1A sectional tournament at the 3/30 Club in Lowden next Wednesday starting at 10 a.m.
"There's a chance we can make a run at qualifying for state," Tremmel said. "We've got some kids playing pretty good right now. We just have to keep up the momentum."
— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.
