Boudreau, Raiders set to chase down elusive girls golf state tournament bid

QUINCY — Jason Knuffman’s confidence in the Quincy Notre Dame girls golf team is at an all-time high.

“This is probably the most talented team I’ve coached since I started in 2017,” Knuffman said. “In the last 20 years, this could be as high as we’ve finished.”

Those are lofty expectations considering the Raiders have reached the state tournament seven times since 2004 and finished in the top six on four occasions, rising to as high as third in 2012. But Knuffman’s confidence lies in a group of four players he would put up against any other team in Illinois.

“For Class A, there are only a few other teams in the state that can say they have four players who can really go out and shoot well,” Knuffman said.

One of those four players — Belle Boudreau — narrowly missed out on a state berth in 2023. At last year’s Roxana Sectional, Boudreau thought she posted a score of 83 to sufficiently qualify for state.

“I was happy with my score coming in,” Boudreau said.

She then found out her score put her in a tie for 16th with North Mac’s Jersey West and Rushville-Industry’s Kaitlyn Seymour. Only 16 players from each sectional make the state final tournament, so these three golfers went to a sudden death playoff to determine the final state spot.

“They were like, ‘You’re probably going to have to play a playoff.’ Then I started stressing out,” Boudreau said.

The stress crescendoed when she stood over a 5-foot putt on the first playoff hole. She missed the putt, sending Seymour to state and the Raiders home empty-handed.

“It was a long walk back to the van,” Knuffman said.

Boudreau returns for her junior season with expectations of competing for another chance at state.

“I think I need to shoot low 80s, maybe 70s to make the cut,” Boudreau said.

Knuffman believes Boudreau has what it takes to get over the hump.

“She is very consistent off the tee and with her irons,” Knuffman said. “She has a very small contact area on the sweet spot. She does not make a lot of silly mistakes with her driving and ball striking. She also has a really good way of managing a course. She really understands positioning off the tee, when she can go for something, when she has to lay up. Her length off the tee is pretty significant.”

Boudreau, who also is a member of the Raiders’ pom pon squad, has a sound strategy for calming herself down when things go awry.

“Sometimes I think about dance. It distracts me,” Boudreau said. “I think about the dances I have to do to help get me in the right mindset.”

Knuffman has seen this calming mechanism in action.

“I can remember her as a freshman, in the middle of the fairway she would just start dancing,” Knuffman said. “She wouldn’t do it a lot, but I can tell that is a definite relief valve for her.”

Boudreau hopes she will be dancing along with the Raiders’ other upperclassman — Meredith Eversman — after securing a trip to state. Eversman had never played on a golf team or even played a full round until her freshman year, but now a senior, she will be competing for the Raiders’ No. 1 spot.

“It’s been fun watching her hit the ball farther and farther every year,” Knuffman said of Eversman. “She’s small but mighty.”

Eversman plays midfield for the QND soccer team and previously played basketball, but she dropped basketball this year.

“I’m just deciding if I want to play golf or soccer in college,” Eversman said.

Boudreau’s close call left a bad taste in Eversman’s mouth, too.

“Watching Belle last year was not ideal,” Eversman said. “I’ve worked on golf more than I have in the past, especially since this is my last season. I don’t want to miss the cut for state.”

Knuffman said while Eversman is a streaky player, she could shoot the Raiders’ lowest score any given day.

“She’s going to have good days and bad days,” Knuffman said. “Belle’s scores are going to be a lot tighter, but Meredith can go super low. She can birdie four holes in a row, and she did that last year on one occasion. There’s also going to be some back and forth, too.”

A freshman duo will join this upperclassman tandem to form an imposing top four.

Natalie Druffel and Nancy Scholz finished first and second at the Quincy Junior City Tournament at Westview Golf Course last month. Druffel shot a 78 to take the crown, two shots clear of Scholz. 

They both qualified for the IESA state tournament last fall. Druffel posted an 81 for a seventh-place individual finish, while Scholz led Quincy St. Peter to a third-place team finish with a team-low score of 91.

Knuffman is optimistic Druffel’s strong run of play over the summer will carry over into the high school golf season.

“We’ll have to see how that melds with the high school scene,” Knuffman said. “I think she’s going to go very low many times this year.”

As for Scholz, Knuffman often found her at the Quincy Country Club in recent months honing her skills.

“It seemed like every time I was out there, she was out there,” Knuffman said. “A lot of times she was just by herself, carrying her bag or using her push cart, and it just reminded me of high school, just out there trying to get better.”

Scholz, Druffel and the Raiders will put those skills to the test when they open their season in the Lady Titan Golf Tournament on Thursday at Deer Run Golf Course in Hamilton. The West Central Conference Tournament will be played at Westview Golf Course on Sept. 24.