Our 2023 boys golf tour starts with the 21st Vern McGonagle Championship at Naperville Country Club. Naperville Central comes in as defending champs but the rest of our area schools hope to dethrone the Hawks and start their seasons with the right swing. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Naperville Central looks to start the season with back to back wins
We start one on hole four with Naperville Central’s Joe Cerney back for his senior year who gets out of a mess and put his ball right on the green. Cerney and the Hawks are hoping to go back-to-back.
Up next is Charlie Davenport from Benet Academy, winners of the Bob Sterr tournament to start the season. Here he swings from the fairway, the ball lands on the green. The junior pars to finish the hole.
Still on the fourth hole and Davenport’s teammate Finn Reilly lines up for a long par but his tap has enough juice and goes in. Reilly walks away with the second-best score for the Wings at 79.
To hole seven, and here’s one of Neuqua’s returning members in Parth Vora. A good tee-off from the senior has his ball in the air for a while but eventually comes down to earth within 30 feet of the pin on the par three. Vora pars the hole and leads the Wildcats with a round of 78.
Sibling power helping Waubonsie Valley this fall
Guess who’s back? Yup, it’s Waubonsie Valley senior Salil Khanduja doing Salil Khanduja things and that’s sinking long putts for birdies in the McGonagle. One of the state’s top golfers leads his team with a solid 75.
However, there’s another Khanduja on the links this season in younger brother Avi. He swings with so much firepower his ball lands right in your living room. A score of 77 is a great start for the Freshman on this challenging course.
Back to Cerney who has a birdie chance on hole number eight, and he gets it to fall. Cerney soars to Central’s top score and he is pumped up after a round of 77.
Metea Valley’s Rahil Shah is in a little pickle, but he gets a nice chip that gets close to the pin. Shah finishes with an 83, three strokes behind team leader Kyle Bucher.
To hole 14 and Waubonsie continues to make noise with Adam Torreon. His swing from the fairway gets on the green and his steady performance lands him an 81.
Naperville North’s top golfer is Zach Zafar who golfs his way an 80 after a nice par late in the round.
Matt Sims for Naperville Central also golfs a strong round by scoring a 79. He pars on the hole after the chip takes a long roll.
Wildcat Ryan Watson is looking for a long birdie. He putts and gets a promising look but it just comes up short. Watson taps it in for par and finishes with the Wildcats second-best score at 81.
The top individual on the day is Benet Academy’s Charlie Davenport, who golfs a 72. Although it was not quite enough as Waubonsie inches out Benet by one stroke to win the 2023 McGonagle Championship.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!