Boys golf: Weather shortens annual Dundee-Crown invite; Lake Park, Prairie Ridge tie for title

Prairie Ridge and Lake Park tied for first place in the lightning shortened Dundee-Crown Charger Invite at Randall Oaks on Saturday.

Both teams’ top four golfers finished a combined three-over-par. Even after adding the fifth golfers’ results for a tiebreaker, the two squads remained knotted at 12-over-par.

Completing 13 holes, Prairie Ridge senior Jack Dahlem won the individual title with a score of 49, two-under-par.

Five golfers tied for second place, all finishing one-under-par.

“I'm just super excited for the boys. They are coming together. We've had ups and downs this season,” Prairie Ridge coach John Powell said. “Today was obviously a very nice highlight. They were very comfortable out there which was fun to see today.”

“We played consistently today, which we've been struggling to do, so it was nice to see them putting the ball into play,” Lake Park coach Tim Moran said. “It was a good tuneup for the state tournament. Regionals and sectionals are right around the corner so I was happy to see the boys playing well all at one time.”

While Dahlem was pleased with his play, he wanted to complete the round.

“It was definitely disappointing (that the invite ending early). I wish I could have played those last five holes,” the senior said. “Off the tee, I was putting myself in great positions. The wedges were great. I was hitting inside 15 feet, making the putts when I needed to, and everything was definitely working today.”

Dahlem hopes his good play continues into next week’s Class 2A Crystal Lake South regional.

“It was great to have that fire right now and right before we get into the heavy part of the season, so I'm excited for what comes,” he said.

Anthony Pettrone (Prairie Ridge), Griffin Michalak (Lake Park), Darrin Dick (Palatine), Logan Henning (Jacobs) and Sloan Voytek (Lake Park) all finished the abbreviated match one-under to share second place.

“Griffin is the most consistent player so far this season, and he's a freshman, so we're very excited about that,” said Powell.

York (eight-over-par), Fremd (nine-over) and Palatine (nine-over) rounded out the top five teams in the field of 22.

Senior Sal Purpora's seventh-place finish led the York squad.

Adding in the fifth golfers’ score, Fremd edge Palatine by one stroke for fourth place. Rish Kompala’s ninth-place finished paced the Vikings. The senior finished one-over after completing 10 holes.

The weather-shortened tournament was an inauspicious end for Dundee-Crown coach Bob Sweeney’s 21-year stint managing the Dundee-Crown Charger Invite. Sweeney is retiring at the end of the school year.

“It’s been a good run. You know, we've had a lot of fun,” Sweeney said. “And it gets down to the camaraderie with the coaches and seeing some good players play. That's fun to watch, you just want to watch.”