Wetsch wows 'em at Wheeling's invite
Wheeling golf coach Mark Menich said that the course was playing 'tougher than usual' at Saturday's Wildcat Invitational at Chevy Chase Country Club.
It sure didn't seem to bother Jordan Wetsch.
The St. Charles East junior shot his best-ever 18-hole tournament score of 67 to take medalist honors and lead the Saints (299) to a second-place overall finish.
Lake Forest (296) won the team prize, while Jimi Poulos of Prospect (2-under 70), St. Viator's Kenny Wienckowski (70) and Marc Ackerman of Barrington (72) excelled as well on the picture-perfect day in Wheeling.
"My putting was amazing today," said Wetsch, who started his round by rolling in a 60-footer on the very first hole for one of his six birdies on the day, one of three 60-plus putts the junior holed.
"The group he was playing in knew he was on a roll," said East coach John Stock. "Some days you hit the green and hope to get it down in 2 or 3, but he was getting those down in 1 today."
Poulos parlayed a hot putter and an eagle on the par-5 15th to a 3rd place individual medal, while Wienckowski's career best score earned him the fourth-place medal.
"Kenny didn't even start in his first year on the frosh-soph team," said Viator coach Jack Halpin, "but put in a lot of hard work to earn a starting spot on varsity last year, and he's one of the guys we count on again this year. He's one of the hardest working kids I've seen."
Matt Maloney, Mike Sokolik, and Cael Kiess each shot 78 to contribute to Prospect's 3rd place team placement, while Nick Schiavi (77) helped Barrington to win fourth place and Brad Klune (76) made a big contribution to Viator's fifth-place finish.
Tee-K Kelly of Wheaton Warrenville South carded a 73 to win the seventh-place medal, Wes Apple's 74 (eighth place) was big for St. Charles East, while Hersey's Kevin Snodgrass excelled with a 75 (10th place overall.)
"This was my best score of the year, and maybe of my career," said Snodgrass. "It was a lot of fun out there today."
Ryan Starkman was strong for Hersey, shooting 35 on the back nine en route to a 76, while Will Dolatowski of WWS finished at 77, Joe Carlson of Viator shot 78, while Jon Woods and Nick Maze from the Saints each had 79.
The host Wildcats, meanwhile, carded one of their best-ever tournament finishes behind a youthful trio of stellar players, as freshman Jack Ferguson (80), sophomore Michael Taylor (80), and Zack Nauert (81) played well.
"Our goal," said Ferguson, "is to (one day) win state - it's as simple as that."