Alli Wiertel, a sophomore golfer at Oswego High School, recently shot an incredible tournament round that has an entire community buzzing.
Wiertel first picked up a golf club when she was four years old, and she hasn’t put it down since, a “true love at first swing” story.
“There’s so many things about golf I love,” she said. “I love going out and playing late. I love sunset rounds, I love hitting a good shot in the fairway, birdies. I even like – honestly, sometimes – the hard rounds, because then it makes you want to work harder. I just have a true love for the game.”
But the great golfers have more than just a true love for the game. They’ve got the talent and resiliency most can only dream of. The sophomore at Oswego High School has the whole package.
“I would say that Alli is a very special golfer,” her high school golf coach Brian Chandler said. “Everything she does on the golf course is calculated. Everything she does on the golf course is based on her previous experiences and her previous opportunities to play competitive golf, and she does a great job carrying that over into her high school rounds.”
That was never truer than August 14th when the 16 year-old caught fire during a tournament at Whitetail Ridge in Yorkville and started chasing a number that’s only been achieved once on the LPGA Tour: 59. Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam accomplished the feat in 2001.
“My putting was great. I hit close shots, a lot of close shots, gave myself a ton of birdie looks. I was able to chip in that round, so it was a lot of things going my way,” Wiertel remembered.
To reach golf’s holy grail, Alli had to come up clutch late in her historic round. She needed to go three under par over her final two holes, and she made an eagle on 17. A few minutes later, she was standing over a six-foot birdie putt with a chance to break 60. Was there any doubt in her coach’s mind that she’d sink the putt?
“No doubt. She was going to make that all day,” Chandler said.
“I was feeling pretty calm,” Wiertel said. “Just knew that I could do it. It was a shorter hole, so I was trying to drive the green – I was not trying to play it safe. I just tried to drive the green, chipped it close, and I was able to make a putt. I was pretty calm just trying to do what I knew I could.”
Her score of 59 set a new course record, but not an IHSA record, because the governing body only records them at the state meet. Knowing that, you can probably guess Alli’s next golfing goal.
“I’d love to win state,” she said. “That’s definitely my goal this year. I know I can do it, so I’d like to make it happen.”
And could she break the girls state record of 65?
“Yes, hopefully break the state record. That’d be cool, too,” she said.
