Nathan Pirtle blasts a shot from the fairway during his victory at Heartland Crossing.
INDIANAPOLIS – Nathan Pirtle closed with five birdies on the back nine in coming from behind to stage a 2-shot victory at the Heartland Crossing Midwest region event.
Pirtle began the final round seven shots behind Tyler Prentkowski and had to pass nine other players tied or ahead of him to gain the lead. After opening the final round bogey-double bogey, Pirtle regained form with a birdie at the fourth, setting the stage for a red-hot closing nine.
Pirtle birdied 10, 12, 13 and 14 with a double bogey at the 11th. With Prentkowski struggling behind him, Pirtle faced his biggest challengers in the group ahead as Mark Whipple and Devan Schulert with holding steady with scorecards loaded with pars.
Whipple closed with eight straight pars while Schulert carded 15 pars on the day, but fell back with a double bogey on 17.
Pirtle finished with rounds of 78-72—150 for the victory while Whipple claimed sole possession of second place with rounds of 78-74—152. Schulert posted 78-76—154 for third place.
A group of five players all shared fourth-place honors: Zachary Watterson (81-74—155), Jonathan Gulley (78-77—155), Nickolas Cappola (77-78—155), Michael VanDeventer (77-78—155) and Tyler Gray (76-79—155).
Allgeier rolls in Boys 13-14
Patrick Allgeier posted rounds of 76-76—152 to run away from the field in the Boys 13-14 division at Heartland Crossing.
Allgeier, who entered the event as the division points leader, was able to pad to that lead in notching his second victory of the season. Allgeier’s first win came in the Fall opener at Notre Dame.
Allgeier built a 4-shot lead in the first round and remained relatively unthreatened the final round by playing the first 12 holes in even par. The round included birdies at the third, seventh and 10th holes.
Nicolas Osterburg shot 80-82—162 for second place while Andrew Wood (87-82—169) and Tanner Shapiro (85-84—169) shared third-place honors.
Terlesky notches second win in Boys 12-and-Under
Brian Terlesky posted his second victory in as many tries this season in cruising to a 10-shot win over Ben Smith in the Boys 12-and-under division at Heartland Crossing.
Terlesky, who won back in September at Notre Dame, fired rounds of 73-76—149 and enjoyed a comfortable lead throughout the tournament. He carried a six-shot lead over Smith heading to the final round and never saw that lead slip less than five strokes.
With birdies at the 10th and 12th holes, Terlesky put too much distance between he and the field for there to be any charge at his lead.
Smith posted rounds of 79-80—159 for second place while Jared Wilson finished third at 80-83—163.
Benge dominates Girls 14-and-Under
Kayla Benge shot 92-91—183 and posted a 10-shot win in the Girls 14-and-under division at Heartland Crossing.
Benge’s run of four straight pars to open the back nine kept the field at bay after Amber Nelson had pulled within one shot through the first nine holes.
The victory marked Benge’s first win in two attempts this season.
Nelson finished alone in second place with rounds of 97-96—193.