Geneva Golfer Fifth After First Round of State Amateur Championship

Andrew Cisco of Geneva fired an even-par 71 over 18 holes Tuesday at Glen Oak Country Club in Glen Ellyn to finish the first round of the Illinois State Amateur Championship tied for fifth place.

Cisco, who graduated from Geneva High School this year, is two strokes behind co-leaders Theo Lederhausen of Hinsdale and Chris Brant of Edwardsville.

Though pleased to be near the top of the leader board, Cisco still thought there was room for improvement in his play.

"I’m happy with my round,” he said. “But out of the 14 or so fairways out here, I think I only hit maybe five or six of them. I couldn’t hit a fairway to save my life, but I putted beautifully. I was making good putts; the short game was good; I just couldn’t get the driver to stay in play.”

A strong, gusty wind probably had something to do with a few errant drives.

“If it was calmer, I probably would have hit a few more fairways,” Cisco said. “I don’t know. When you shoot even, I guess nothing really hurts that much.”

Cisco was 2-over par after the first nine holes, but rallied on the back nine with four birdies, at one point putting him at 1-under par and atop the leader board. Only a miss on a short par putt on 18 kept him from finishing under par.

Only the top 30 players (including ties) will qualify for Thursday’s grueling 36-hole final round.

“That’s my goal,” Cisco said. “I want to make the cut and see what I can do on the last day. I’ve just got to keep hitting fairways because if my putting stays the way it is, I’ll be good.”

Cisco is coming off a disappointing performance in the at Hawthorn Woods Country Club, where he finished 10-over par after 36 holes and missed the cut.

“That’s a little more motivation (to do well this week),” he said. “That course I struggled with last year and I struggled with this year. But yesterday, I played my practice round (at Glen Oak) and it fit my eye pretty well. I hope I can keep it up tomorrow, the streak I’m going at.”

The practice round was the first time he had played the historic Glen Oak course, which was laid out in 1911 by Tom Bendelow, known as the “Johnny Appleseed of American Golf,” because of his prolific design activities in the early 20th century. The course has gone through several redesigns since.

“I like it,” Cisco said. “It’s soft, which helps. Sure, it doesn’t help the drives, but it helps you throw more shots at the pin, which is always nice.”

Cisco will attend the University of Iowa this fall and—with the encouragement of the coaching staff—plans to become a walk-on member of the golf team.

Also competing in the State Amateur Championship this week is Leo Kolquist of Geneva. He finished the first round at 6-over par, placing him in a tie for 66th out of the 138 golfers in the starting field.