Hawks' Burdi nets Geneva title
The Western Sun Conference showdown between Batavia and Geneva could not have had a more delectable appetizer.
The historic rivals have a crucial league encounter this afternoon at Mill Creek, and the Geneva Invitational on Wednesday afternoon at the same site provided a brilliant backdrop for the infant boys golf season.
The host Vikings had five players break 80, but Batavia had an even finer afternoon to capture the 16-team Geneva Invitational.
Collin Huber aced the sixth hole to flavor his level-par 71 performance, and another pair of excellent scores by Shawn Steurer and Tim Schofield enabled the Bulldogs to force a sixth-card tiebreaker.
Nick Michael and John Vacek had matching 81s for the Bulldogs to duplicate the Vikings' 373 total; the Geneva sixth score, an 83 from Reese Pagel, then enabled Batavia to draw first blood in the back-to-back encounters.
Bartlett junior Anthony Burdi and Marmion junior Tim Johnson fired 1-under-par 70s to lead the assault on red numbers, and the former was declared the overall winner courtesy of his closing birdie on 18 to win the scorecard playoff.
But Johnson and his Marmion teammates also made a statement; the Cadets were 3 strokes off the blistering team pace to finish third.
Bartlett was fourth with a 392, with West Aurora (400) taking fifth behind three solid scores.
"I was chipping and putting very well," Burdi said. "My short game was phenomenal. I was trying to keep it in the fairway. I had 27 putts today, and that was what enabled me to win."
The Hawks' Trace Pomplun fired a 75, and senior classmates Dan Noncek and Erik Draffone showed dramatic improvement with identical 80s.
Freshman Cody Linkenheld overcame a disastrous 11 on his opening hole with an inward-nine 37 to post a round of 87.
"To be honest, we finished a lot stronger than I thought we would," said Bartlett coach Tommy O'Boyle. "The improvement from (the season-opening tournament at) Larkin to today was outstanding. It's always nice to have the individual champion."
Garrett Eddy was 10th overall for Streamwood with a 74, and the Sabres placed ahead of district rivals Larkin and Elgin to round out the field.
Scott Harm paced the Royals with yet another 74, and the No. 1 Larkin player, Ryan Smith, came in with a 77. Devin Skopek and Casey Knack led Elgin with an 85 and 86, respectively.