Canfield wins Men's Lincoln Highway Tournament
By Dan Woesner - Shaw News Service
While Andrew Canfield realized a boyhood dream July 17, Timber Creek's team unleashed a nightmare upon the rest of the field.
Canfield, a 19-year-old from Oregon, shot a 1-under par 209 over 54 holes this weekend to claim medalist honors at the 88th Men's Lincoln Highway Tournament at Oregon Golf Club by two strokes over defending champion Mitchell Homb of Dixon's Timber Creek.
"I used to dream of winning this tournament," Canfield said. "Ever since I started coming here as a kid and watched my dad, I wanted to win this. It's special to do it here at my home course."
Canfield is the first Lincoln Highway medalist from Oregon since Ray Burian in 1957.
After Saturday's first round, Canfield sat in fifth at 106 behind Sunset's Jeff Thornton (102), Rochelle's George Weber (103), Homb (104) and Rock River's Audi Rudiger (104).
Thornton and Weber were both on Oregon's team last year, but transferred away.
"I've known Andrew since he was 8 years old," Thornton said. "I remember when he was shooting 80 out here. I am just really proud of him for playing so well and winning a tournament like this."
Being in fifth left Canfield, who plays golfs on the Rock Valley College team, out of the lead group and somewhat out of the loop in knowing where each player's score stood.
As Canfield started the seventh hole of the last round, he was a stroke behind Homb. While Canfield parred out, Homb started to crumble.
"The last four are the toughest on the course, and with the conditions today, they were even worse," Canfield said. "Knowing the course, I just focused on making par and I hoped that was good enough."
Homb found out before he teed off on No. 6 that he held the one-stroke advantage. The sixth hole turned out to be a disaster, as Homb scored a triple-bogey after his tee shot landed in the tall grass to the right of the fairway.
"It didn't really matter that I knew that I was a ahead, I just took a shot without thinking," Homb said. "Then I just kept making it worse."
Timber Creek scorched the field by amassing 41 pluses in the best-against-bogey scoring format on Sunday alone to finish at +43 for the tournament. The score was well ahead of Sunset (Mount Morris), which finished at +16.
Best-against-bogey scoring is where players are awarded a plus for beating a designated score, nothing for matching it, and a minus for exceeding it. At the end of the round, pluses and minuses are totaled for a final individual and team score.
Sunset led Timber Creek by 15 points after the first day.
The win was the 29th for the club since the tournament started, breaking the tie with Kishwaukee for most team victories.
