LZ's Glatz declared winner of NSC meet
Mother Nature had some assistance during the North Suburban Conference boys golf championship at Midlane Golf Resort in Wadsworth on Tuesday.
"I'm in charge of the morning weather so I made sure the rain wouldn't come," joked Vernon Hills coach Shawn Healey, whose team was the host school.
What wasn't predicted was a three-way playoff to determine the individual winner.
Lake Forest's Peter Marshall, Lake Zurich's Ben Glatz and Stevenson's Eric Pacewicz each finished the first 18 holes in 2-over-par 74 to force a 19th hole.
With the rain clouds rolling in, the three players teed off on the par-5 18th hole. Before they could complete the hole, course director Bill Dierks saw lightning in the background and signaled the players and spectators off the course.
Within minutes after the rain started, the tournament was stopped. Glatz was awarded the championship because he had the lowest score (37) on the back nine.
"I was pretty disappointed that we didn't get a chance to finish the playoff," Glatz said. "It would have given (each of us three) a chance to win."
Marshall, who finished second, shot a 34 on the front nine and 40 on the back.
"I had a rough back nine," said Marshall. "I had a chance to tie Glatz in regulation but I didn't."
Pacewicz was four over through his three holes, but made the playoff by finishing with back-to-back birdies.
"It was nerve-wracking," Pacewicz said of the playoff.
On the par-4 seventh, his next-to-last hole, Pacewicz teed off with a 3-wood and hit it 270 yards. He hit a wedge in close and sank the putt.
Then on No. 8, he sank a 25-footer for birdie.
Lake Forest won the team championship by shooting a 304, one stroke better than Stevenson. Libertyville (318) was third and Warren (323) fourth. Mundelein (329) edged Lake Zurich (330) for fifth.
"This is probably the biggest tournament of the season for us," Lake Forest coach James Matheson said. "We weren't playing well at the beginning of the season. We have a pretty young team and we've been playing well the past week."
The Scouts also received a 75 from Tyler McHale, a 77 from Joe Klein and 78s from Casey Burke and Will Kirsch.
Stevenson's Tory Weidenmiller, Zack Kravits and Ryan Colbourn each finished with 77, while Tommy Buckley shot an 81 and Joe Pellettiere finished at 83.
Brett Coburn (77) led Libertyville despite a double-bogey.
"I started out pretty good by parring the first five holes," Coburn said. "I was hitting the ball solid and was putting well. I made a couple of bogies but was able to recover from them."
Also for Libertyville, Bob Weidner shot a 37 on the back nine to finish at 78 and Bill Stone shot a 79.
"I felt that we played pretty well," Libertyville coach Sean Mathews said. "I thought we hit the ball pretty well and Coburn really played very good for us."
Kevin Savage (77) and Taylor Furmanski (80) led Warren.
"I got off to a bad start with a couple of bogies, but I birdied the 11th and then I chipped in for birdie on the 14th," Furmanski said. "I'm disappointed but I'm glad that this wasn't the regionals."
Antioch's Chris Burton and Mundelein's Pat McGrath also broke 80, as they both carded a 79.