Boys golf: Barrington completes classic run to MSL title
The weather for Tuesday's Mid-Suburban League boys golf meet inspired thoughts of the famous line from Carl Spackler, played by Bill Murray, in "Caddyshack."
"I don't think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while," he said.
If you've seen the movie (and if you're a golf fan and you haven't, what are you waiting for?), you know at that point in the film, a veritable monsoon is engulfing the fictional Bushwood Country Club.
Doubtless that's the way some of the golfers felt Tuesday at Makray Memorial in Barrington, as the competitors played many of the holes in an off-and-on driving rain.
"The wind was blowing like crazy," said onlooker Dawn Wiebe, "and the rain was going sideways. The kids' umbrellas, all their stuff, was just flying around."
Nick Stare of Schaumburg and Rob McColaugh of Conant, in the first group to complete their rounds, couldn't have agreed more.
"Brutal," said Stare, while McColaugh added that "it was just a tough day for golf - and this course is already tough enough."
Near the finish, however, conditions improved and the sun peeked out - and it shone most brightly on junior Tom Calbi and the host Broncos.
Calbi won medalist honors by firing a 72, 6 shots better than his nearest competition, to lead Barrington to a clean season sweep and the MSL title.
Teammate Burke Barsamian (78) was second individually as the Broncos, who went 11-0 in the regular season, shot 313 at Makray to win the meet and earn all 44 available points to take the league crown.
"I stuck with the process," said Calbi of his superior performance. "I tried to keep my hands and my grips dry, and commit to every shot. My swing was good and my stroke was good."
Calbi, who didn't let the adverse weather dampen his enthusiasm, admitted that he played so well that he couldn't have improved much on his play, even in pristine conditions.
"Maybe a little bit," said the junior, "but a 72 is a good score here even on a normal day. I just trusted myself today."
Colin Robinson of Fremd had the third-best score of the day, a 79, as the Vikings (334) took second at the meet and second overall in the MSL.
MSL East rivals Prospect and Rolling Meadows both finished out at 340, with the Knights taking third in the meet on a tiebreaker.
The two teams shared third place overall in the league after tourney points were added on to regular-season results. The Mustangs were declared MSL East champs due to their regular season record while the Broncos, naturally, were West champions.
Other scores of note on the day were 80's from Robert Garmoe of Prospect and Jason Deans of Hersey.
Dan Luhan from Meadows also shot 80, Cole Kempinski carded an 81 and Tim Lim and 82 for Barrington.
Rolling Meadows teammates James O'Donnell and Kyle Kornblum both finished at 83.
Prospect's Brendan O'Brien carded an 84; Sawyer Smith counted the Broncos' final score a 84 along with teammate Sean Dolan; and Kevin Andjulis of Conant also excelled with an 84.
Payton Kim (83), Eric Schaeffer (86) and James Feng (86) all counted scores for the runner-up Vikings.
"I think that I can speak for all of us that it was a really tough day," said Feng, a senior. "The rain came in spurts. We wanted first place, of course, but we're happy with second."