MONTGOMERY – By the slimmest of margins, one stroke and the width of a stray tree branch, Evan Tillett’s golf season came to a gut-wrenching close during the IHSAA regional at Country Oaks on Thursday.
Tillett, finishing his sophomore season at Bedford North Lawrence, carded a brilliant even-par 72, but missed a playoff to qualify for a spot in the state finals by one shot. The top three teams, and the top three players who are not members of advancing teams, earned an invitation to the state championship at Prairie View on June 16-17.
BNL’s Hudson Martin, who also advanced to the regional as an individual, posted an 82.
Tillett was contending for a state finals berth. He fired a front-nine 35 that included three straight birdies on holes 3-5, and he was still 1-under for the round (with a birdie on the 10th) when he stepped on the 18th tee. With a water hazard guarding the entire left side of the hole, Tillett’s tee shot clipped a tree branch on the right side of the hole and caromed into the water. He would still save a bogey on the closing hole.
The top three advancing individuals were Boonville’s Mason Mills (70), Evansville North’s Hank Schreiber (71) and Springs Valley’s Val Lenninger (71).
”Unfortunately it was one shot too many,” BNL coach Trey Turner said. “His ball striking was really good, he hit a ton of greens, he was just unable to get the putter going. Some days you just don’t have it with the putter.”
Castle won the team title with a score of 291, followed by Bloomington South (295) and Evansville Memorial (299). Castle’s Brayden Lamborne was the medalist with a 3-under 69.
The Stars closed out the 2026 campaign, losing only one senior.
“We will be young again next year, so it was great to get the experience,” Turner said. “They understand what that is like and how to play under that pressure, how to handle that.
“It was a good year. We continued to get better as the year went on. As young as this team was, it was a great learning experience. Now we will see how we grow, how they continue to get better.”
