To Logan Kelley, a round of golf is a round of golf.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a round with his grandfather and his grandfather’s pals, a practice round with his own pals at 6 a.m., or even if it’s a tournament with national implications.

And it didn’t matter on Sept. 13 on the Metamora Fields Golf Course near Peoria.

That morning, the New Lenox Liberty Junior High School eighth grader was ready to tee it up at the Illinois Elementary School Association Boys State Golf Tournament a year after finishing in fifth place as a seventh grader.

“I just wanted to play a round of golf,” Kelley said. “I wasn’t trying to think about pressure. I treated it as just another round of golf.”

And what a round it was.

Kelley set an IESA record by carding a 67 to win the tournament by three shots and became the first golfer in his school’s history to win a state championship.

“After taking fifth last year as a seventh grader, winning it was definitely his goal,” Liberty coach Kate Hartwig said. “We knew he had the potential. Some of last year’s eighth graders were out of the way for him.

“I’ve never seen a kid at his age level that can stay out of their head like he can. Especially when it matters. When it’s a big competition, He’s very focused — cool, calm and collected. He set out to do this and he did it.”

Kelley started on the back nine of the course and immediately took charge with a birdie, two pars and an eagle in his first four holes en route to an amazing five-under par 31 in the first half of play.

In playing the front nine, he ran into trouble on the second hole as he was saddled with a double bogey but recovered the next hole for a birdie. “After my double bogey on two, my coach said I had a little wiggle room,” he said. “I was OK if I messed up a little bit.”

But it was smooth sailing the rest of the way as he finished four-under. “I was comfortable with the golf course,” he said. “I played there many times. I just knew where to hit it. I knew how fast the greens were.”

Hartwig said the rounds 13-year-old Kelley plays with his grandfather, 68-year-old Jim Loiacono of Tinley Park, have helped out.

“I think that being out there with the experience of playing golf with adults – he’s definitely gained something from that,” Hartwig said.

The state of golf around the area is getting better as younger players are starting to shine.

Homer Glen finished fifth in the team standings in the IESA meet and eighth grader Blake Crane led the team with a 76 — a 13th place finish.

Other area golfers who placed in the top 50 were Lemont Old Quarry sixth grader Ethan Oh (27th with an 81) and Liberty eighth grader Judah Portwood (42nd with an 85).

In the girls state tournament, Lemont Old Quarry eighth grader Sarah Scott took fourth with a 76 and Flossmoor Parker seventh grader Wakana Hill took fifth with a 79.

Kelley, who plans on attending Lincoln-Way West next year, is the best of the group so far.

He said he started playing golf at 13 months old, and at age 7 he started to compete but said he wasn’t good right away.

“I didn’t have a coach, and I wasn’t practicing much,” Kelley said. “Then I got a coach and started practicing getting better and getting more competitive.”

And he has advanced to a point that astounds his coach.

“He just does everything very well,” Hartwig said of Kelley. “He’s naturally gifted. He is definitely the best golfer I’ve been around. He can drive the ball 300 yards. He has a wide variety of clubs. He knows which ones to use. He’s just very knowledgeable.”

Hartwig said she will miss having Kelley on the team and will keep an eye on his future.

“It’s going to be really cool to see where golf takes him,” Hartwig said.

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.