Ackermann leads Barrington to second straight crown
As the scores continued to come in Tuesday night at Inverness Golf Club, the Barrington boys golf team stood next to the scoreboard watching with confidence.
The Broncos posted a team score of 314 and were led by junior Marc Ackermann. Ackermann finished the day with a 72 to win the 2009 Inverness Invitational.
"It was tough," Ackerman said. "The wind was a factor and the greens had a lot of speed."
Barrington coach Mike Kallenbach was ecstatic with his team's performance. Mike Stathakis shot 79, Greg Conrad 81 and Nick Schiavi 82 in its second invitational win in a row.
"The team is playing well," said Kallenbach. "Our confidence is up right now."
The golfing Broncos need to continue to play with confidence if they're going to win their conference, according to Kallenbach. They have some tough Mid-Suburban League matchups coming up.
Ackermann seems to think they have what it takes to finish the season the way they would like.
"We have a strong team," he said. "One through six is solid and they're all awesome guys too."
The greens seemed to be the topic of a lot of conversation around the course. Many of the golfers were discussing the cutting of the greens, which made them play faster than normal.
The problems with the greens were reflected in the scores with only Ackermann, second-place finisher JJ Doar of Glenbrook North and Chris Ramirez of Fremd, who tied for third place, posting a 9-hole score under par.
Doar points to a putt he had during the tournament which led to his adjustment.
"I had a 20-foot putt that I hit like it was only three feet away, and it rolled way past the hole," Doar said.
From that moment on, Doar said he reminded himself on every putt just how fast the greens were playing.
Edging out host Fremd by two strokes for second place was St. Viator, which had their top players participating in a tournament at Medinah. Nick Van Stedum shot 78 and Nick Bauer and Joe Ward had 80 to help the Lions roar past the Vikings.
Other top individual scores from Tuesday were seniors Mike Woolf of Palatine and Larry Foss of Maine South, who tied with Ramirez at 76, and Jimi Poulous of Prospect, who finished one stroke behind them. Schaumburg's Joe Inendino and Buffalo Grove's Jake Nowak shot 79.