Junior Davis DeKorte was the individual champion and one of four Lake Forest College players in the top 10 as the Foresters finished second at the three-day Midwest Conference Championships in Rockford, Illinois, this weekend. The event was played on the 6,615-yard, par-72 course at Aldeen Golf Club.
DeKorte posted his third straight round of 77 on Saturday to win by a single stroke. He had been tied-for-fourth in the 35-player field after Thursday's opening round before taking the lead by two strokes on Friday. DeKorte held off the top finisher from league champion St. Norbert College in the final round to capture the Forester men's golf program's first individual MWC title.
Lake Forest sophomore Ricky Schmidt, the first-round leader, carded an 80 on Saturday and tied for fifth place overall with a three-day score of 239. Junior Durham Ghelfi's 79 left him a shot behind Schmidt and he was tied-for-seventh overall. Also earning all-conference honors was freshman Jacob Krugman, who fired a 78 on Saturday and finished 10th at 242.
Sophomores Parker Hill and Elijah Collins turned in their best scores of the weekend on Saturday with rounds of 84 and 85, respectively. Hill finished 25th overall with a 54-hole total of 247 and Collins 29th at 264.
The Foresters' four-man score of 314 on Saturday was their best of the event and two shots better than St. Norbert, but still left them three strokes off the lead. Lake Forest also had the best round in the six-team field on Friday but were unable to completely erase the Green Knights' nine-stroke advantage from Thursday's opening round. The Foresters' 54-hole score of 952 was a team record and eight shots better than last year's total. Monmouth College finished third at 968, Illinois College fourth at 981, Knox College fifth at 1,024, and Grinnell College sixth at 1,044.
It was the second straight runner-up finish for Lake Forest, which reinstated its varsity men's golf program in 2014. The team will not lose any seniors to graduation before next year.
