Waggoner closes week on top

Luke Waggoner tees off on the first hole Friday during the McHenry County Junior Golf Association's Plum Tree Open in Harvard. Waggoner won the tournament. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

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HARVARD – On Monday, Luke Waggoner played in the McHenry County Junior Golf Association’s McHenry Open at McHenry Country Club.

Waggoner followed that by playing the Illinois State Junior Amateur Tuesday-Thursday. Friday, Waggoner ended his tournament week by playing in the MCJGA Plum Tree Open.

After shooting a 5-over-par 41 on the back nine, Waggoner shot 1-over on the front side to finish with a 6-over 78 and a two-shot win against Brad Hyland and Scottie Stalo in the senior boys division at Plum Tree National.

Waggoner said he had a game plan to attack Plum Tree’s difficult greens.

“I started off pretty rocky, but I started to right the ship,” Waggoner said. “I played pretty conservative and hit to a lot of the middle of the greens. There are a lot of trees and if you play to the middle of the greens, you won’t have that long of a putt. It was really important to lag it up close and make the next putt.”

In the junior boys division, Barrington’s Mickey Evans Jr. shot an 8-over 80 to win by two strokes over Trent Craig.

Waggoner had the low score on the front nine, but Evans went out with a 6-over 42 on the front before rallying for a 2-over 38 on the back nine.

Evans said that the greens took up most of his shots on the day.

“I had 40 putts, which was the worst putting I have done in a while,” Evans said. “I was hitting the ball okay though. I had been hitting mid-70s lately so my ball striking has been good but just a bad day on the greens.”

Samantha Leicht won the junior girls division. Leicht has won all four McHenry County Junior Golf Association tournaments this summer.

Leicht shot a 13-over 49 to win by one shot over Danielle Roulo and three shots over Delainey Peterson. The key to Leicht’s victory was something not on the course.

“My fairways were good today but the biggest thing was drinking a lot of water,” Leicht said. “Reading the break on the putts was difficult and I didn’t putt very well.”

The senior girls division was won by Samantha Wightman shot an 18-over 54 to defeat Jessica Stengel by nine shots for the senior girls division title.

The next MCJGA event is at Crystal Woods Golf Club in Woodstock on Wednesday, which is the home course for Marian Central, where Waggoner attends. Waggoner said it will be nice to play some familiar greens.

“I have some nice vibes going back there, it is where I have played some of my best rounds,” Waggoner said. “It is a home away from home for me in the fall.”