Beachwood seniors Drew Schnee and Nate Burke are headed back to the Division II district golf tournament after a strong performance at Tuesday’s sectional tournament at Forest Hills Golf Course in Elyria.
Schnee and Burke both finished with an 80 and tied for fourth place overall. They advanced as one of the top three individuals not on a qualifying team.
“It feels really good to know that the work I have put in the past couple of years has paid off, although the experience would have been a little better had I shared it with all of my teammates,” Burke said. “We we fell just short of advancing, missing out by only two strokes.”
Beachwood finished fourth as a team. Only the top three teams advance to districts.
Junior Andrew Belleli carded a 91 for the Bison while senior Patrick McCourt rounded out the Beachwood scoring with a 98. Freshman Matt Blumenthal also played and finished with a 108.
Burke advanced to the district tournament for the second straight season thanks to his ability to recover following a less than ideal tee shot.
“I can usually rely on my irons to get me out of trouble off the tee and, for the most part, the same held true today,” he said. “I put myself in some bad spots off of the tee but these didn’t ultimately end up hurting me because my recovery shots with my irons were pretty good.”
Schnee shot an 83 to finish 23rd at last year’s district tournament and Burke was 50th with a 92.
Burke believes he’s better prepared for the pressure and competition this fall.
“I think just playing the course many different times is itself something that will definitely help me at districts this year. Also, I feel like some of the nerves I was feeling last year will not affect me as much because I know I have been here before,” he said. “I’m just going to try and put everything together. I need to put myself in good position off the tee and my chipping and putting has to be solid to go along with that. If I do this, I will be in a good position to succeed.”
The district tournament will be held on Tuesday at Windmill Lakes Golf Course in Ravenna.
