Jul. 18—URBANA — In 2010, then-Salt Fork golfer David Keenan saw Lyle Burns lead Mahomet-Seymour to a state title.
Three years later, then teammates at Parkland College, Burns watched Keenan win an NJCAA Division II individual national championship.
They went their separate ways for the next couple years, Keenan to Chicago State and Burns to Bradley, but they’ve since reunited in Champaign-Urbana and taken the reins of the area’s competitive amateur golfing scene.
“It’s a ton of fun, especially for David to be on the other side of it,” Burns said. “We go way back, and it’s a lot of fun to compete against him. Just going to see who can win at the end of the day. It’s good for the guy on the other side to be a good buddy.”
The latest edition of their friendly competition has come at Atkins Golf Club in Urbana for the 93rd Illinois State Amateur Championship, where they were the only two area golfers to make Thursday’s final.
Through the first two rounds, Keenan sits at 1-over 145 and was tied for 15th, five strokes behind leader Pierce Grieve, while Burns was 2-over 146 and tied for 18th.
And they both locked in down the stretch on Wednesday to secure their spots in the 36-hole championship race, as the top-30 players and ties made the cut.
Keenan’s second round got off to an OK start, posting a 2-over-par score through his first nine holes to bring his total score to 4 over, right at the cut line. Once the back nine started, he caught fire, making four birdies in a five-hole span to comfortably put himself in position to advance.
“You just look at your target, and the ball flies toward it. It really gets that easy,” Keenan said of when he gets into a groove. “You just try to not get in your own way and let it happen once it gets flowing. I’m a few shots back, but I should have a chance (Thursday) if I can keep piecing it together.”
Burns’ day two finish wasn’t as exciting, playing 17 of his holes at even par, but that one other hole had a chance to send his round spiraling out of control.
Hole No. 9 at Atkins in a par 3 over water with a bunker to the right of the green. Burns hit his tee shot just off to the side of that bunker, setting up a tough second shot. He played it perfectly, lofting a high lob shot that landed softly just a few feet from the pin. He marked the ball on the green to let his opponents hit their next shots and tossed the ball to Troy Burns, his dad and caddie, to clean it.
That’s when Troy realized a red dot on the ball. Lyle’s had a black dot. He played the wrong ball.
“I would have played that ball, without question, 10 times out of 10,” Burns said of the first ball he hit. “It was the same ball, same number with a black line facing up, and it was within 15 feet of my ball. I hit the shot and didn’t even notice it. I hit a great shot and was looking at maybe four feet for par. Then, I had to go back and hit a harder shot. That hurts, but I don’t think there’s any way I would have done it differently had I done it again.”
The situation resulted in a two-stroke penalty, and after playing the correct ball, his ensuing putt was going to be tougher, too. He missed the putt, finishing the hole with a triple bogey after it looked like he was going to save par.
Burns bogeyed the next hole, admittedly still thinking about the previous one, but stayed composed and bounced back with a birdie and seven straight pars to keep himself in Thursday’s field.
“I’m really, really happy with how I played the last eight holes,” Burns said. “Couple putts slid by that I thought I could have maybe made for birdie, but other than that, I’m really happy with how I rebounded from an unfortunate situation.”
If Burns gets those three shots back, he’s within three shots of the lead. Instead, he’s six behind, but as Keenan said, 36 holes in one day “is going to be a battle.”
Speaking of battles, Keenan is just one shot ahead of Burns in the standings, which means, along with a state championship, bragging rights are on the line for the area’s top amateur golfer on the state’s biggest stage.
Keenan was inducted into the Parkland Athletics Hall of Fame last year and has won the last three Twin City titles. Burns owns the lowest career stroke average in Bradley history at 73.79 and is now the defending UI Open champion after last month’s victory.
Everyone in town knows what these two are capable of, but whoever comes out on top will undoubtedly have fun with the other when they team up for an event later this summer.
“Expectations bring pressure, and having that little bit of pressure typically makes me play a little bit better,” said Burns, who will tee off for the third round at 7:54 a.m. on Thursday. “He’s got me by one, so I’ll go try to chase him down. Maybe a little extra motivation there, too.”
And the fact that they’re going to battle it out in their hometown makes it that much better.
“Once I found out the State Am was here, I circled it on my calendar,” said Keenan, who has a 7:18 a.m. tee time on Thursday for his third round. “I got my prep ready for the qualifier and was making darn sure I was going to be out here. Pretty much every year, it’s in Chicago, and I have to get a hotel, stay up there and be uncomfortable. I finally got a home game, so I wanted to make sure I made it and put up a solid showing. I’m off to a good start. Hopefully, I can get it going (Thursday).”
