Mundelein’s Cigelnik soars to NSC crown
Bret Cigelnik was a fan favorite on the first hole at Willow Glen Golf Course in Great Lakes on Tuesday.
And why not? It’s not every day you see an eagle, but Cigelnik dropped one in on his first time through on the par four, 415-yard hole.
Later, in a three-way playoff, Cigelnik followed up with par on the same hole to become the North Suburban Conference’s boys golf champion, edging Billy Knutson of Libertyville and Drew Barrett of Lake Forest.
Lake Forest stopped Mundelein’s two year reign of team championships by 2 shots, winning 306-308.
Cigelnik ended in the three-way tie for the top spot with a 73 on the par 71, 6,642-yard course. He reached the green in 2 shots on the playoff hole and made par with two putts.
“On the putt coming back was about 7 to 8 feet,” said Cigelnik, who also gave a fist-pump for the victory. “I knew if I put a good stroke on it that I had a good line. It felt like it was in my favor and all I had to do was get a two-putt. It was exciting on the playoff with a lot of people watching.”
On his eagle, Cigelnik used a driver and followed it up with a wedge.
“My driver was very good,” Cigelnik said. “I was hitting greens and two-putting out there. It was my 13th hole, since I started on seven. I hit driver and left myself with about 80 yards. I used a wedge, it one-hopped and went right into the hole for eagle. It was exciting to see it drop in.”
In the playoff, Knutson had sent his second shot carry just over the back end of the green. He nearly dropped his third shot in with a wedge; it rimmed the cup. But he needed two more putts to hole out for a bogey.
“It was very windy out here,” Knutson said. “It was cool in the morning and became very windy. The wind made a big difference. You just have to pay attention to the wind.”
Barrett sent his playoff drive into tall grass off the fairway. He had to take a drop and sent the ball past the green on his third shot. Barrett ended up with a 7 on the playoff hole.
Lake Forest’s counted scores by Barrett (73), Mac Montange (74), Tommy Dee (79) and Graham Ganshirt (80).
Mundelein was led by Cigelnik’s 73 and also counted Derek Parola (76), Tyler White (77) and Bennett Weise (82).
“We’ve played well in the event the last few years,” Mundelein coach Todd Parola. “I thought we played pretty well here today. We had three pretty good scores and were lacking one more. We’ve had an unbelievable fall weather-wise. They haven’t had to deal with much adversity on the golf course all fall for the most part. It was pretty windy and windy for most of the day. I thought our kids handled it pretty well and played decent. (Lake Forest) played pretty good golf and were just a little bit lower than us.”
Stevenson finished third, 8 shots back with a 316. The Patriots were led by Kameren Sandhu (76), Jason Gohde (79), Logan Brim (80) and Will Sebastian (81).