New father Keenan hoping to continue historic Twin City run

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CHAMPAIGN — Heading into its 95th year, the Twin City Golf Championship continues to produce historic storylines.

Starting back in 1929, Burnham Harris and Bill Percival traded the title through the first four years. Fast-forward to the ’80s, and Joe Burden and Jim Thompson went back and forth a few times. A couple decades later, Clayton Parkhill won four championships in a five-year stretch, broken up only by Tim Hoss Jr.’s third of what eventually turned into an event-record six titles.

“The history’s there,” said Champaign resident David Keenan, a former Salt Fork and Parkland College standout. “You look back at all the past champions, and it’s all the names of guys who were the best players around at that time. You just want to be the next guy to put your name on that list.”

Speaking of history, Keenan enters this summer’s tournament as both the favorite and the only golfer to ever three-peat the Twin City following his third consecutive victory last year.

“I’ve had a pretty good run the last few years being able to etch my name in there,” Keenan said. “I know there are a lot of guys gunning for me this year. I’m interested to see if I can hang on and keep that streak rolling, but it’s not going to be easy.”

The target on Keenan’s back is as big as ever, but it appears it’ll also be as tough to hit as ever, with him playing some of his best golf as of late.

Just last week, Keenan was consistently toward the top of the leaderboard of the Illinois State Amateur Championship at Atkins Golf Club. He finished the tournament tied for 16th place at 4 over par, automatically qualifying him for next year’s State Am. If it wasn’t for a shaky last six holes in his final round, he likely would have been one of only eight golfers under par for the week.

“I was able to mix it up with some of the best players in the state, hang with them and beat a lot of them and really feel like I was at the top of the leaderboard for most of the tournament before I ran out of gas at the end,” Keenan said. “To know I have that in the tank is good to know going into an event like this.”

Keenan and his wife, Kari, welcomed daughter Kat into their lives two months ago. Keenan understands the pressure that comes with being the three-time reigning champion, but he isn’t really feeling it given his new title of father. With his focus elsewhere, Keenan understandably hasn’t been working on his game as much lately, but he’s still the man to beat. He has a little extra motivation now, and he’s hoping to carry it through this weekend and extend his unprecedented Twin City run.

Kari is planning to bring Kat to the course this weekend to see at least a little bit of the action. Keenan doesn’t know what exactly he’ll feel when he looks off the tee box and sees his daughter, but he’s sure it will give him a new perspective.

“That’ll be special for me regardless of the outcome,” Keenan said. “Whether I play well or just don’t have it, she’s still going to be there at the end of the day and I’m still going to feel that love. In a way, it might take a little bit of pressure off knowing that she’s going to be there no matter what. That would be very cool to hold her and the trophy when it’s all said and done. Hopefully, I can win one for Kat.”