By Michael Wojtychiw

There’s something about the Indian Boundary Golf Course that truly appeals to the Payton-Jones Co-Op’s boys golf team. The co-op, made up of players form Jones and Payton College Preps, came into the 2023 city championships as two-time defending city champions, having dethroned Whitney Young, which had won the title each year for the decade prior.

Payton-Jones improved on last year’s 309 team score by three strokes, while senior Nico Attlan improved by six strokes, carding a one-under 71 to lead the way for the victors. Lane and Young tied for second place with a score of 319. Lincoln Park took fourth by carding a 351.

“I didn’t realize it until this year but it’s a big responsibility to play as a senior and to play as a captain,” Attlan said. “The team looks up to you and has to rely on you. Sometimes it’s hard to stay focused, but being a strong team like we are, there comes a lot of responsibility. We just are able to rise up to our expectations when we need to.”

“This year I wasn’t sure how hard it would be,” coach David Gilmer said. “We’ve got a lot of seniors this year who have worked really hard. But these guys have all worked very hard and there’s the confidence you get from knowing you did it the last two years, you know you’re talented and your expectations are high.

“And then when you’re not meeting those expectations, it’s easy to doubt yourself. And in golf, once you start doubting yourself, it spirals. The boys had a lot of tournaments this year where they needed to work hard and they needed to dog deep and today was a great example.”

Attlan wasn’t the only one of his teammates who saw their names in the top 10 of the competition’s leaderboard, however. Derek Patton and Aadi Rao shot a six-over 78, while sophomore Mason Fernandez was one stroke behind, good enough for an eighth-place finish.

Young senior Henry Reiland, who won last year’s city title, carded a two-over 74 to finish third, while Lane junior William Walsh took runner-up honors with a 73.

“With golf, everything is uncertain,” Attlan said. “You could go out and play really well, you could go out and play bad. I had my game today, I felt pretty good coming in, but didn’t expect to win.

“The course was playing tough today but I managed to scrap together a good score and walk out of here with a win. I was really consistent off the tee. I had a shot I could go to every time to hit a reliable shot. I hit 17 of 18 greens so that made playing today easier because I was giving myself a chance for good scores.”

Attlan and his squad had quite the regular season, consistently putting up good scores against some of the state’s toughest competition. It was meets and tournaments against teams like those that really forced him to get better throughout the year and made him get better as the season went along.

“Today was definitely an anomaly, but I usually hit greens pretty well,” he said. “Today everything just came together. The combination of off the tee and irons made it easier.”

“Coming into the season, I knew their skill level,” Gilmer said. “WE only lost one guy from last year. We were confident coming in. There was a tournament earlier this year, the St. Rita Invitational, where they were two-under through nine holes. The back nine they struggled and ended up finishing fourth. To me, that was the moment I knew we could have a conversation about the potential and talent being there, but it’s about the resiliency and focus.

“From that moment on, everything clocked.”

After winning the city championship, the teams now prepare to start the IHSA state playoffs.

Payton-Jones and Young are both in the Payton Regional, while Lane, Lincoln Park and Amundsen are in the regional hosted by Loyola Academy. Attlan took 72nd in the state his junior year.

“We have two mottos on our team: First, ‘Focus on one shot at a time’ and second, ‘Get better every day,'” Gilmer said. “And that’s how we look at it. We had a 309 today, our goal would be to have a 308 at regionals.”

Photos by Margo Grogan/OSA