MEDINAH, ILL – After a long, tough fought day at the historic Medinah Country Club, Brendan O’Reilly (2017) of Hinsdale, Ill. and Kelly Anderson (2015) of Wheaton, Ill., were crowned champions of the Medinah Country Shrine Junior Invitational. Not only were all three courses at Medinah Country Club in fantastic condition, the weather was in near perfect all day.
O’Reilly came out strong during the first round of the day by firing a 1-under-par 71, taking a five stroke lead into the second round. He struggled on the front nine of his second round recording a 4-over-par 40, but played consistently on the back which lead him to a seven shot victory. Eric Gilpen (2015) traveled up from Bloomington, Ill., and finished in a tie for second place with Luke Armbrust (2018) of Wheaton, Ill. Luke earned low second round after making three straight birdies to close out his final 18.
In the Girls Division, Anderson came back from a two shot deficit to take home the title. She was one of two players to record a final round in the 70s. Reena Sulkar (2017) of Barrington Hills, Ill., finished seven shots off the lead to take home the second place trophy. Lauren Beadreau (2019) of Lemont, Ill. and Selina Zeng (2017) of Oak Brook, Ill., round out the top three after carding a two round total of 158.
The Boys Division played Course Three in the morning then Course One in the afternoon. The Girls Division played Course One followed by Course Two. All entry fees for the Medinah Country Shrine Junior Invitational are donated to the Shriners Hospital. This year, the IJGA was able to donate $20,000 to the hospital.
