Barrington’s Conrad right at home
Greg Conrad spent last weekend playing golf at Inverness Country Club. With the Barrington boys’ team not playing in a tournament, the junior had a little extra time to sharpen his game on the course he has called home his entire life.
“My family has had a membership here for 13 years,” Conrad said.
While he didn’t top his course-best of 69, Conrad did manage to fire a 1-over-par 73 to take home the individual championship Tuesday at the Fremd-Inverness Invite. Conrad’s performance helped Barrington to a second-place finish as a team and just 2 strokes short of New Trier’s 313.
Conrad used his experience from over the weekend to help ready him for this invite.
“They really had the greens going so that helped me prepare a little bit for today,” Conrad said. “I knew where to put the ball on the green and to not be above the hole. It was playing hard. You couldn’t miss greens much and you had to hit fairways.”
Nick Schippel (79, ninth overall) and Mike Stathakis (80, 13th) had strong outings as well for Barrington.
Conrad rebounded from a few bogeys on the front to birdie the 17th and 18th holes and edge New Trier’s Fitz Bowen. The Trevians senior carded a 75 to lead the champions while teammate Ian Wright finished in third place after shooting a 77.
Prospect finished 4 shots back of New Trier, using a balanced attack to earn third place.
Sophomore Josh Johnson and junior Jeff Bleven tied for sixth place overall for the Knights as each shot 78, while teammates Ryan Kowalski and Ryan Maloney shot 80 and 81, respectively.
“With our team, we are so deep,” Johnson said. “Anyone can shoot well on a given day.”
Johnson was the lone participant to shoot either the front nine or back nine under par as he followed up a 43 on the back with a 35 on the front.
“I started on the back and didn’t play too well,” Johnson said. “But I came back with three birdies on the front.”
Fresh off a win at the Homewood-Flossmoor/Providence Invite last weekend, Prospect picked up right where it left off.
“We played great,” Johnson said. “Momentum is everything right now. I definitely think we carried over last weekend’s performance to today.”
Schaumburg’s Nick Brandt and Glenbrook North’s Nick Jan, who won the Buffalo Grove Invitational last Saturday, shot 77s to tie Wright for third place.
Hersey got standout performances from Ryan Krebs (79) and Grant Mano (79) to edge Glenbrook North for fourth place while host Fremd finished sixth.