Dixon, Ill. - Trey Boecker and Connor Watson finished atop the leaderboard as the Illinois Central College men's golf team won the Skyhawk Classic Championship at Deer Valley Golf Club on Friday. It was the Cougars' third championship of the fall season, with all seven players finishing in the Top 17 of the 75 player field.

Boecker and Watson were tied at 3-under par (140) for the tourney forcing a sudden-death playoff. Boecker won on the 1^st playoff hole for Medalist Honors.

Brooks Cluver finished 9th overall while Drake Kaufman came in at 10th. 

"It was very encouraging to watch all seven players contribute to our 3^rd championship of this fall," coach Sean Kennedy said.

Round 1 (Thursday) Recap
The team started slowly with a 5-over par after the first three holes. They then found their footing and clawed back to a team one-over-par 285 score, good enough to for a nine-shot lead over second place Black Hawk for the day.

Boecker 70 (-1)
Watson 70 (-1)
Smith 72 (+1)
Cluver 73 (+2)
Kaufman 76 (+5)
Alex Kuykendall 76 (+5)
Andrew Kuykendall 80 (+9)

Round 2 (Friday) Recap
The Cougars started Day 2 torching the golf course. Connor Watson birdied #1 to put the Cougars immediately in red numbers and then consecutive eagles from Logan Smith, Brooks Cluver, and Drake Kaufman catapulted the team to a lofty 10-under par with six holes to play.  ICC made a couple of late mistakes and had to "settle" for an even par 288 and a 10-shot victory over runner-up Black Hawk.

Boecker 70 (-2)
Watson  70 (-2)
Kaufman 73 (+1)
Cluver 75 (+3)
Smith 79 (+7)
Alex Kuykendall 76 (+4)
Andrew Kuykendall 72 (Even)

Results link:  https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/12027985965684372791?back_link=true

"We'll take the weekend off to watch a little Ryder Cup and catch up on some homework before going to the Battle of Mississippi," Kennedy said. 

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
The Battle of the Mississippi
Mon, Sept. 29 at 11am
Tues, Sept. 30 at 9am
at Frye Lake Golf Club
Sherrard, IL