ALTON - Senior Aidan O'Keefe is playing the best golf of his career right now for Marquette Catholic High School.
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Almost a third of the way into the season now and he hasn't let up. This has by far been his best August yet, according to head coach Ryan Geisler.
The stats don't lie either.
Let's take a look at the scores he's posted so far this season.
Things kicked off at the Hickory Stick Invitational where he shot an even-par 72. That was the best individual score of the day, making him a medalist. The Explorers placed third out of 20 teams.
He shot another 72 at the Alton Tee Off which earned him fourth.
At the Madison County Tournament, he finished one under par shooting a 71. He earned a small school medal. Marquette as a team shot 317, which was good enough for first place in the small school’s division.
What came next is probably the craziest part. In a weekday nine-hole match against Jerseyville at Spencer T. Olin, O'Keefe shot six under. According to coach Geisler, he had two eagles, three birdies, and a bogey. That set a school record for a nine-hole event which Geisler doesn't think will be beaten for a long time.
Only the front nine was part of the match against Jersey, but Aidan decided to finish out the round and play the back nine. He finished that round shooting a 10-under 62 - the best he had ever played at Spencer T. Olin, which he says is one of the toughest courses he plays all season.
After shooting a combined nine over in the two-day Dick Gerber Invitational in Edwardsville, he finished 14th out of a field of more than 100.
Then he shot a 33 at Spencer T. Olin again. The team came in first shooting 160 beating Christ Our Rock and Father McGivney in a Catholic school’s triangular event.
"I really haven't done anything differently,” O'Keefe said about his senior season. “Keep your foot on the gas, coach says."
The scores he's been putting up week in and week out are impressive. He said he's looking forward to trying to keep this pace for the rest of his season and just maybe qualify for state at the rate he's going.
"We're trying to get the whole team there. We know we can. We have the best team I've ever had,” O'Keefe said.
Last season the Explorers came in second at regionals and had a “tough day” at sectionals, according to O'Keefe. He and the team expect to go farther than that this season.
O'Keefe knows he wants to continue playing in college but doesn’t know where yet. He hasn’t decided on what he wants to study yet either.
Coach Geisler jokingly said that O'Keefe’s not worried about all that now, he’s too busy golfing.
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