By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – When in doubt, go back to the drawing board. Or in Evan Tillett’s case, the driving range.
Frustrated by his opening-round performance at Seymour, Tillett changed his driver and his approach, wore out the ball dispenser at Otis Park, and came back with a vengeance during the home-course debut on Thursday afternoon.
Tillett fired a sizzling 72, his career best in high school competition, to earn medalist honors during BNL’s dual duel with Bloomington South. The Panthers won the team prize by 11 strokes, carding 316, although BNL’s 327 was a great improvement from the previous outing at Shadowood.
After hitting only one of 13 fairways off the tee on Saturday, Tillett benched that weapon. The substitute, combined with three days of relentless range work, paid off during his even-par tour.
“I put it a lot of work on the range, more than years,” Tillett said. “I got a new driver after Saturday didn’t go well. That fired me up, made me mad. Today was just solid, it all just came together.”
Tillett posted three birdies, taming the par-5 fifth with a two-putt finish, burying a 15-footer on the 12th, and getting up-and-down from 10 yards for birdie on the par-5 17th. His only mistakes came on the first, eighth and 11th holes. He clipped South’s Colton Watson by one stroke in the medalist chase.
“South has some solid players, so it was nice to compete on that level,” Tillett said. “I proved to myself, when I play well, I can take on the best.”
The rest of BNL’s best included Hudson Martin (83), freshman Brayden Ohl (85) and Brody Simmons (87).
“This was great improvement from Saturday,” BNL coach Trey Turner said. “There’s still a lot of room to grow, but I’m proud of the way we bounced back. We have to cut down on the big numbers and turn those into bogeys at worst.”
BNL will compete in the Floyd Central Invitational at Valley View on Saturday.
Bloomington South 316, BNL 327
South – Colton Watson 73, Carson Gady 77, Karl Bailey 81, Owen Wisley 85, Easton Bellini 86, Sam Lutz 91
BNL – Evan Tillett 72, Hudson Martin 83, Brayden Ohl 85, Parker Foddrill 88, Traeden Robinson 98, Brody Simmons 87
