Boys Golf: Kukec, Burchard Advance to Sectionals for Maine West

While fell short of its goal of advancing as a team to the sectional championships, two Warrior golfers moved on individually, giving themselves another shot at qualifying for the state tournament.

At  course in Northbrook last Monday, Maine West's Tom Kukec (80) and Tim Burchard (84) were among the top 10 golfers not on the three advancing teams. It is the second year in a row that both have qualified for sectionals.

Earlier:

"[Tom Kukec] was incredibly steady all day long, getting off the tee well, putting the ball well," said Mike Godlewski, Maine West coach. "He had one glitch in his round where he took a quintuple-bogey on number 13, a long par three. Even if he would've just bogeyed that hole, he would've been in a tie for fourth place."

While Kukec was solid throughout, Burchard had to rally on the back nine to save his round.

"Tim started out pretty bad on the first four holes; he pushed or sliced all four drives and ended up shooting a 45 on the front," Godlewski said. "But his experience and gamesmanship… he shot a 39 on the back. He was able to really put it together."

Janos Von Aulock (86) missed qualifying by one stroke. 

Maine West (340) finished sixth as a team, five strokes away from fourth place. New Trier took home the regional championship with a 309 while Loyola Academy (316) and Evanston (321) also advanced. 

The Homewood-Flossmoor Sectional will be held Sept. 10 at Balmoral Woods Country Club in Crete.

Kukec and Burchard, along with coach Godlewski, will get a feel for the course this weekend by playing 18 holes Saturday and Sunday. 

Godlewski says the longer and more open layout at Balmoral should play to Kukec's advantage. But both players are looking at an outside shot of qualifying for state.

"Both guys are excited obviously to play it, and there's some expectation, especially from Tom [due to] the way he's playing right now," Godlewski said. 

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