EHS boys golf left for Gurnee, IL, last Saturday with knowledge of who they were up against—though junior Hayden Moore rose to the occasion. 

With a score of 78, Moore tied for second place at the Bittersweet Golf Club in Gurnee—a new terrain for him and the rest of the team. 

Moore says this score is not his personal record. A week ago, Moore shot a 1-over-par 73, winning the tournament individually and contributing to the team’s first place win. 

“I wasn’t expecting to play this well this early since I played baseball this summer,” Moore says, “I just got back into golf.”

Moore says that the proper mindset is important to any player’s success. Instead of worrying about how well he has to play, he focuses on being “relaxed and loose,” as well as “not forcing bad shots.”

In total, EHS boys scored a 346, placing eighth out of 12 teams. Coach Tyler, boys head golf coach at EHS for four years, says that the teams at the Warren Invitational are “some of the better teams in Illinois.”

Senior Trevor Laub, who appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as an Illinois “golfer-to-watch,” followed Moore with an 89. After an average score of 78 for 18 holes last year, it was not the score he was expecting. 

“I have mixed feelings about that round but most are negative,” Laub says. “Bittersweet was a course in which you had to hit (inside) the fairway or you were going to struggle.”

Despite hitting “good” front nine shots, he says that he began to hit “sloppier” shots off the tee as the game progressed.  

Both Laub and Moore are returning varsity players. Their next tournament is today, at the Champaign Invitational. As they move further into their season, Moore is confident that the team’s performance will improve. 

“I think they will do better once we play a little more and get into the middle of our season, after they get used to the pressure or nerves. I don’t think we are as good as we were last year, but I am still confident with my guys.”