Libertvyille’s Quenan ready for senior success

If it comes down to making a pressure putt or hitting a critical fairway in order to secure a berth downstate, where he’s pumped to wind up after last fall’s missed opportunity, Alex Quenan likely won’t shake in his soft spikes.

He won’t get the yips, or fail to turn his hips.

Rarely is there pressure in a season-opening meet, but rarely, too, is the situation where a golfer has the chance late in a round to break 70 in competition for the first time.

“What’s your score?” Quenan’s playing partners asked him on the 18th green in the Deerfield invite at Deerfield Golf Club last Monday.

Quenan, a Libertyville senior whose 83 at sectional last year missed the state cut, lined up his putt from about 40 feet from the hole and answered.

“I need to two-putt for a 69,” he said.

Cue Quenan’s nerves.

Only they didn’t budge.

Quenan, calmly yet confidently, rolled his putt just past the hole. He tapped in for birdie — and a winning and eye-opening 3-under-par 69.

It was his career low.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Quenan said of his reaction, which was subdued. “People were asking me about the round. I was at a loss for words.”

He had hit driver on the par-5 18th, which was playing about 500 yards, and reached the green with a 3 hybrid.

“I knew I was 2-under heading into the last hole,” said Quenan, who’s 6 feet and 150 pounds. “I had never broken 70 before. I tried my best to do it, and I did it.”

He pulled it off the hard way.

He birdied not only the 18th, but the par-4 17th, as well.

“I hit a gap wedge about 6 inches past the hole,” Quenan said of his tap-in birdie.

His 34-35 included, in total, 5 birdies. A pair of bogeys aside, he was consistent from tee to green all day.

“I hit a lot of greens,” Quenan said. “I had to chip only one time. I was hitting it off the tee well, my putting was good, and my irons were the best part.”

Actually, Quenan had fired a 69 days earlier, too, he said, but it was in a practice round at Libertyville’s home course, Village Green, and the par was 70 — not 72 like at Deerfield.

“I played well in tryouts,” Quenan said.

“It’s been a pretty good start to the season.”

Now he tries to keep it going, while knowing he’s not going to break 70 every time he plays an 18-hole tournament. Quenan and the Wildcats, who carded a 306 at Deerfield and finished second, tee it up Monday in the Lake County meet at Shepherd’s Crook in Zion.

“Last year my goal was always to break 80,” said Quenan, who got called up to varsity midway through his sophomore year. “Usually I’m in the mid-70s. If I can do that all the time, I can’t be disappointed.”

Come the state series, he doesn’t plan on being disappointed.

“My No. 1 goal is to make it downstate,” he said.

He seems ready to handle the pressure.