Sandburg wins title at Jaguar Invitational
Justin Nutter
Tonganoxie High senior Drew Sandburg started preparing for his final high school golf season well before practices began in March. Sandburg saw months of preparation pay off Wednesday with an individual title at the Mill Valley Jaguar Invitational.
Sandburg, a three-time state qualifier, took home a gold medal with a score of 73 at Prairie Highlands Golf Course in Olathe. He beat out Bonner Springs’ Marc McClain by one stroke for the first individual title of his Chieftain career.
Sandburg’s top finish was part of an 11th-place team effort by THS, which carded a score of 352. THS tied Olathe East for 10th, but the Hawks won a tiebreaker to claim the final top-10 spot. The Chieftains knocked 36 strokes off their team score from their season opener — the Sunflower Invitational on March 22.
St. James Academy won Wednesday’s team title with a 326, beating out host Mill Valley by six strokes.
No other Chieftains medaled individually. Matt Scharff finished behind Sandburg with an 88, despite golfing in the team’s No. 4 slot. Nathaniel Laundy and Isaac Jones finished with scores of 93 and 98, respectively, and Heath Martin rounded out THS scoring with a 108.
Coach Jared Jackson’s squad will be back on the course Monday at the Lansing Invitational. THS placed seventh at the tournament in 2013.
Overall team scores
- St. James Academy, 326; 2. Mill Valley, 332; 3. St. Thomas Aquinas, 336; 4. Piper, 340; 5. Olathe South, 340; 6. Lansing, 341; 7. Blue Valley Southwest, 347; 8. Ottawa, 349; 9. Blue Valley Northwest, 350; 10. Olathe East, 352; 11. Tonganoxie, 352; 12. Bonner Springs, 359; 13. Topeka-Hayden, 384; 14. Basehor-Linwood, 385; 15. Shawnee Mission South, 397; 16. Bishop Ward, 421; 17. Perry-Lecompton, 424.