Stace lifts Larkin through regional, into sectional

As he finished his last hole Tuesday, Larkin senior Joe Stace had no idea his score would mean so much.

Nor did Stace's Royals teammates realize how much just 1 stroke would mean.

When Stace's 83 was posted, even Larkin coach Tim Jones showed surprise.

What Stace's 83 did was catapult the Royals to a 313 score and into second place at the Class 3A Larkin regional, sending them to next Monday's Bartlett sectional at Bartlett Hills.

Had Stace carded an 84, Larkin would have lost on a tiebreaker that came down to sixth scores between Geneva, Glenbard North and West Chicago, with We-Go taking away the third and final team qualifying spot.

Bartlett senior Trace Pomplun, a returning state qualifier, won medalist honors with a 4-over par 72 at the 6,086-yard The Highlands of Elgin course, but the Hawks failed to advance anyone else. Junior Anthony Burdi, also a state qualifier a year ago, missed the individual cut by 1 stroke with his 79, and the Hawks shot 320 as a team, well out of the running for advancement.

South Elgin advanced two individuals to Bartlett Hills as junior Andrew Buddle tied for second with a 73 and sophomore Ryan Pondel made the cut with a 77.

St. Charles East easily won the 15th regional championship in program history, braving the rainy finish to post a 303.

But the suspense award of the day belonged to Larkin. Juniors Ryan Smith and Scott Harm posted early 75s and figured to be safe in advancing and then senior Luc Geier's 80 had the Royals in the hunt. When Stace's score was posted last -literally -it put the Royals over the edge.

"I had a decent number of drives and my short game was as good as I wanted it to be," Stace said. "I got it done for the team and that's what matters."

So did Harm and Smith, who tied for the fourth best score of the day.

"I was 4 over through the first four and I missed some short birdie putts," said Smith, who had a 39 on the front. "But then I played real well on the back. I'm happy with the way I finished. I got a birdie on 15 and that got me going a little."

Said Harm: "I finished double-bogey, bogey and that's 4 shots but I'm really happy with my round. My iron play and putting was really good today. I shot better than I thought I would."

Jones was happy with his team's performance in what has been and up and down season.

"We've had some really good rounds and some not so good rounds. We've been looking for two other guys to come through and today Luc and Joe Stace did. That was a big 83 for Joe."

Bartlett's Pomplun has another shot at state after winning the regional championship.

"For the most part I was pleased," said Pomplun, who double-bogeyed the first hole. "My misses weren't all that bad and I putted well. I putted real well inside 10 feet."

South Elgin's Budde will return to sectional play after finishing tied with Glenbard North's Tommy Stacey for second.

"I didn't get off the tee so well but I made up for it with my iron game," said Budde. "I hit five fairways, 10 greens and had 31 putts so I putted real well. I knew 79ish would get out so I was just shooting to make my pars and figured the birdies would come."

They did, as he birdied 1, 14, 15 and 18.

Other individual qualifiers included St. Charles North's Dan Dunklau (77) and Nathan Clark (78), Geneva's Jeff Paustian (77) and Andrew Cisco (78) and Glenbard North's Jason Suerth (78).

Streamwood was led by Garrett Eddy's 83 while Mike Stackowiak had an 87 to pace Elgin.