St. Edward's Winters wins SCC championship
Eric Winters had seen the putt during regulation.
"I felt really confident," the St. Edward senior said of his 10-foot par putt on the first hole at St. Andrews on Saturday afternoon in a sudden-death playoff to decide the individual champion of the Suburban Christian Conference boys golf tournament. "Earlier in the day I had a four- or five-footer on the exact same line."
Winters' confidence proved to be well-grounded; the senior converted the putt, and Montini senior Mike Davis' effort from four feet rimmed out on the high side to give Winters the individual title in West Chicago.
The two players ended the 36-hole tournament with 154 totals; Winters' reduced his first-day score by 2 shots to force the playoff after Davis checked in with a second-round 79.
The conference had a two-day tournament to decide its league champion, and Marian Central Catholic broke free from a first-day tie with St. Francis to edge the Spartans 642-645.
Marmion (653) passed both Wheaton Academy (656) and St. Edward (657) to take third place; Montini, Aurora Central Catholic, Chicago Christian, Aurora Christian, Immaculate Conception, Walter Lutheran and Guerin Prep rounded out the field.
Winters overcame a slow start in the windy and chilly conditions to gain entrance in the playoff with Davis.
"I bogeyed the first three holes but then I birdied the fourth hole, and that's what got me going," Winters said. "It was cold, it was windy. I calmed down during the middle of the round."
"I played pretty solid today," Davis said of his second-round performance after an opening 4-over 75 on Friday. "I hit a lot of good putts that saved my round. My chipping was fantastic. (Winters) drained a big putt (in the playoff)."
Davis also lost the conference championship as a freshman on a scorecard playoff.
St. Francis' Chris Garcia was solo third after rounds of 75 and 81.
The Spartans were tied with Marian at 315 after first-round play, but the Hurricanes captured their second conference championship in the last three years with a collective second-day 327.
"I can't really complain about my score," Garcia said of the dramatically different conditions the players faced this weekend. "(St. Andrews') greens are so big. You would be lucky with a 2-putt on every green."
St. Francis' total was completed with contributions from the same three players each day: Mike Melka, Jon Bruggeman and Matt Mochel.
Patrick Haggerty, the Immaculate Conception senior who is a two-time returning state qualifier, was declared fourth at 158 on the basis of his scorecard tiebreaker with Marmion senior Alex Kline-Wedeen.
"Coming into the freezing cold (on Saturday morning), it was a stun," said Kline-Wedeen, who fired an 82 to augment a first-round 76. "(St. Andrews) played a lot harder out there today--at least a couple of strokes (higher than on Friday). I had a couple of bad holes that I can't take back, but I'm happy with the overall result."
Matt Fazio, the Cadets' No. 1 player and West Chicago resident, did reduce his first-day score by 6 shots (84-78) to spearhead the Marmion comeback.
"I was happy with the way they responded," Marmion coach Doug Roberts said. "They played really well to actually pick up ground on two of the teams."
Wheaton Academy, the defending champion and reigning Class 2A state co-champion, was led by Danny Gryfinski and Lars Olson.
"We don't have the depth that we have had in the past," Wheaton Academy coach Bob Broman said. "I would like to use this as a catalyst to play better Tuesday (at Vernon Hills' regional)."
Wheaton Academy edged St. Edward by a stroke.
In addition to Winters' championship effort, the Green Wave received counting scores from Michael Holevas, Blake Poremba and Ryan Frank.
Freshman Dan Winters fired a first-round 80 for the Green Wave.
Jack McNally turned in the low two-day score for Aurora Central Catholic, and Jake Ettelbrick did the same for Aurora Christian.