Boys golf: With all eyes on him, Geneva’s Makowski delivers memorable ending to his DuKane championship
Bartlett Hills Golf Club has one of the prettiest closing holes around, a 151-yard par 3 over water with trees surrounding the green.
On Tuesday it was the site for a little drama to conclude the DuKane Conference boys golf tournament.
With every other golfer — varsity and JV — finished, they joined with coaches and other spectators at the 18th green to form a bigger gallery than you normally see at a high school tournament.
Their eyes were all on Geneva’s Blake Makowski and Lake Park sophomore Arjav Shah, who both shot even par 71s to tie for first place in their bid for the conference championship.
That forced the playoff. Makowski went first, and his 9-iron hit the green but was 50 feet short from the pin in the back. Shah left his tee shot right, landing in the bunker.
Shah’s bid for the sand save ended when he blasted out a good 20 feet past the cup and couldn’t make the par attempt. Makowski’s lag putt came up 10 feet short, but the senior calmly drained the slight breaking putt for the par to win the title.
“That was fun,” Makowski said of the crowd. “I tend to feel more comfortable with those (right to left) putts. I was confident it was going in.”
About 20 minutes before Makowski’s par earned him the conference crown, he was in a similar situation. Leading Shah by a shot, Makowski hit the 18th green but he three-putted for bogey, which forced the playoff.
Given a second chance, Makowski capitalized.
“I was just lagging it in there. It was a bad approach, but I was happy with the (lag) putt,” said Makowski, who pointed to the par 5 10th hole as a key to his round when he launched a wood 230 yards over trees to hit the green in two, then two-putted for birdie. “Driver and irons were just solid all day.”
Shah also played an excellent round, overcoming bogeys on his first two holes with birdies on No. 11 and No. 15, then recording pars from there to earn his spot in the playoff.
On his final two holes, No. 18 and No. 1, Shah hit his approach long but was able to get up and down, including draining a clutch 8-foot par putt on his final hole.
“He put in a strong summer, played in a lot of tournaments and he’s just been getting some momentum and just played really smart golf today,” said Lake Park coach Tim Martin, who added his players are excited to go to a practice round Wednesday at neighboring Medinah for the President’s Cup. “It’s what gets you into first place at the end of day.”
Shah led Lake Park to the team title at 307, eight shots better than runner-up Geneva. Griffin Michalak (76), Sloan Voytek (79) and Evan Hojnacki (81) had the other counting scores for the Lancers.
“We struggled out there but we all held it together,” Shah said. “It got us the win today. Everyone played their game today, did what they had to do, stuck with it even after a couple bad shots.”
Lake Park, who won its first conference championship in 50 years last season, will be a team to watch when the state series begins next week, especially if Shah continues to stay hot.
“I just hit a lot of greens, made sure not to three-putt at all,” Shah said. “Made sure not to put myself in a bad position off the tee, second shot. Course was playing tough today.“
Geneva, who took the overall conference championship based on combining Tuesday’s result with going undefeated in the regular season, got 81s from Jake Schram and Noah Kettlewell and an 82 from Hayden Hobbs.
“This gets us momentum,” Makowski said. “We’re all excited to go into regionals and sectionals, get everyone’s game locked in so we can all play good and advance as a team. I think we can do a lot of damage. Everyone has the skill and the talent.”
St. Charles North (317), Batavia (327) and Wheaton Warrenville South (334) rounded out the top five.
St. Charles North’s Caden Shanahan (74) and Jackson Shearon (79), Batavia’s Thomas Smeraglinolo (79), Wheaton North’s Ian Williams (79) and Wheaton Warrenville South’s Quinn McCoyd (79) also finished in the top 10.
DuKane girls: The one-two punch of juniors Kayla Beu and Abigail Gizewicz led St. Charles North to the conference championship Tuesday at Phillips Park in Aurora.
Beu and Gizewicz both shot 1-over-par 73s to tie for second behind Wheaton North junior Ariana Savenok, who birdied Nos. 6, 12 and 18 to offset her only bogey at No. 13 and finish at 2-under 70.
Lake Park shot 327 to take second and Geneva was third at 354.