Heelan helps Mundelein to Hawthorn hardware
Let’s play two — two rounds of golf, that is, 36 holes. All in one day.
That was the plan, anyway, for some of Lake County’s boys golfers on Monday.
It started with the Hawthorn Woods Invite at the Hawthorn Woods Country Club in the morning. That meet was followed by the Lake County Invitational at Antioch Golf Club in the afternoon.
Turned out, though, a water hazard created by mother nature changed Round 2.
A heavy afternoon thunderstorm in Antioch stopped play in the Lake County Invite about one-third of the way through the competition, and the course was left unplayable. The meet may be rescheduled for next week.
It certainly wasn’t your typical day of golf for Mundelein’s Grant Heelan, who was the top medalist with a 71 for the morning round. Mundelein won the Hawthorn Woods Invite with a team score of 307, 5 shots better than runner-up Stevenson. Libertyville finished third (324) followed by Vernon Hills (337) and Lake Zurich (343).
“I was up at 5 o’clock, and it was still dark out,” Heelan said. “I was planning on sleeping in, but woke up and decided to play. It was optional to play. It was almost like a practice round for (Lake County).
“I wanted to play Hawthorn Woods, because I like the course and the greens are much different than (Antioch Golf Club). There was a difference between the two courses. Hawthorn was longer with quicker greens and Antioch was much shorter and easier to play.”
Heelan is no stranger to playing two rounds in one day.
“I’ve played two rounds before,” Heelan said. “I played in a Chick Evans event last year, an IJGA event and a National Junior qualifier this last summer. It’s not that hard and it’s not that long. You just have to be mentally prepared to walk the course, and walk again on the other course. I just needed to eat lunch in between and it’s not hard for a kid.”
Heelan shot 1-under on the par 72, 6,600-yard course at Hawthorn Woods Country Club.
“I went out, hit the ball and hit my target, set up and swing,” Heelan said. “I really didn’t think too much.”
The Mustangs’ Derek Parola carded a 75 and finished 4 shots back of Heelan, along with the Patriots’ Jack Spellman and Reed Aren.
Parola had a good day with his approach shots; he hit 16 of 18 greens.
“I thought I was hitting well for the first 18,” Derek Parola said. “All my approaches were good and I didn’t need to scramble all that much.”
Mundelein also counted scores from Bret Cigelnik (77) and Chuck Mohr (84).
Seeing both invites scheduled for the same day usually happen.
“We’ve done the Hawthorn Invite on a different day in the past,” Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. “We had a conflict and this was the only day we could do it. I had asked the kids if they wanted to play 36, and they were all for it.
‘I thought we got off to a great start. We’ve got a great opportunity to play great courses like Hawthorn Woods, Ivanhoe, Stonewall Orchard and Steeple Chase.”
Stevenson was led by seniors of Aren and Spellman. Juniors Jerry Pan and Logan Brim both finished with rounds of 81.
“It was nice to play at Hawthorn Woods after they had their club championship on Sunday,” Stevenson coach John Rueth said. “It was a great golf course and played well. I thought we had a good score that would hold up. Mundelein has a strong team.”
Chris Edwards led Vernon Hills with a 76, Libertyville’s top golfer was Peter Henderson (80) and Lake Zurich’s best golfers were Adam Schulte and Mark Noll; both shot 84.