Rounds' putt sends Hall to sectionals

Hall’s Dean Colmone winds up for his tee shot on the first hole at Mendota Golf Club Tuesday. (BCR photo/Kip Cheek)

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MENDOTA — When Hall’s Nick Rounds watched his putt on the 18th green roll around the lip of the cup and finally drop, little did the Red Devil realize he was about to make a lot of friends

The senior’s round-ending putt did more than just end a successful, yet unsatisfying, 18 holes at Tuesday’s Class 1A Mendota Golf Regional at the Mendota Golf Club. It also got all five of his Hall teammates for at least one more tournament.

Rounds’ par-saving putt gave the Red Devils a team score of 372 strokes, just one shot ahead of Indian Creek’s 373 strokes. The one-stroke difference was enough for Hall to slip into third place — the last of the team qualifying spots for Monday’s Somonauk Sectional.

Mendota (352) and Aurora Christian (354) claimed the first two berths.

If Rounds had missed his putt, the Red Devils would not have advanced as a team as their fifth-best score was not good enough to win a tiebreaker over Indian Creek.

“I had no idea,” Rounds said of the importance of his putt. “I thought we were done for sure because I didn’t think anyone was playing well.”

Rounds was the only Hall golfer to find the 80s as his 14-over-par 84 was good enough to tie for third place on a wind-and-rain blown day in which no golfer shot in the 70s.

In addition to Rounds, Hall’s Cody Kirkman added a 95, Ben Dagraedt a 96 and Dean Colmone a 97 to advance the Red Devils to sectionals for a third straight year.

“I don’t know how many times I told how many kids out on the golf course today, ‘We have a chance yet. Every single stroke counts because the scores are high. Everyone is shooting high and you’re not the only one shooting triple(-bogey),” Hall coach Tom Bauer said. “And it turned out every single stroke counted. One less stroke and we lose on the fifth score, and we don’t go.”

Hall wasn’t the only local school to advance a golfer as St. Bede’s Chris Fernandez shot a 43 on the front and 46 on the back for an 89 and was one of eight individual golfers to advance on a non-qualifying team.

Unfortunately for the St. Bede, Fernandez, the Bruins’ No. 4 golfer, was the only Bruin to advance. No. 1 golfer Garret Fouth shot a 92 and missed qualifying by a stroke, while Adam Sickley carded a 98 and Grant Bosnich a 100.

“All year I thought Chris was capable of shooting a lot better than he had,” St. Bede coach Rich Cummings said. “He had a lot of struggles this year finding the fairways and finding the greens, but he stuck with it and kept his focus.”

Rounds’ 84 tied him with Somonauk’s Brock Kartheiser and Indian Creek’s Alex Bremner for third. Mendota’s Jon Prescott shot an 11-over 81 for medalist honors, while Hinckley-Big Rock’s Colton Craig was second with an 83

Rounds shot a 39 on the front, but bogeyed Hole No. 10 and played Holes No. 12 to 17 at 9-over.

“I thought the front nine went really well, but on the back nine I was just trying to get through it,” Rounds said. “I was just trying to make pars anyway I could, and I didn’t really make that many pars.”

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