Komp turns in 'career' day to capture JPD championship

JOLIET – Ever since winning the Joliet Park District’s Junior Golf title in 2005, Brian Komp set his sights on one day capturing top honors in the JPD’s Men’s championship.

Although the former Joliet West and University of St. Francis player had been in the mix before, other quality competitors were able to prevent him from achieving that goal. But with just one round determining this year’s winner because of heavy rainfall that wiped out Saturday’s opening action at Inwood, Komp turned in what he considered to be his best effort yet at Wedgewood Golf Course.

His 3-under-par 69 did the job in Sunday’s 20-man tournament as it provided him with a two-stroke cushion over runner-up Matt Ward, a Plainfield South graduate, who was the only other competitor to finish below par.

Former JPD Mens winner Jon Zolecki turned in an even-par 72 while two-time defending champion Jeff Petrovic shot a 73 and then won a scorecard tiebreaker over Jim Bolin, who also recorded a 73, to finish fourth.

“This was my best round ever at Wedgewood,” Komp said. “Since it was a one-day round, I just had to focus to shoot my best score and I shot a career-low. I’ve been wanting to win this since winning the Junior Tournament. So I finally was able to get there.

“I got new irons three days ago, so I just hit a couple hundred balls and got them dialed in and it worked. I played pretty well in the Joliet Amateur, so winning that is my next goal.”

Ward, who will be a junior on the team at Valparaiso University this fall, was also pleased following his best effort to date in a JPD championship.

“I played pretty well, and I’m obviously happy with today’s score since this was one of my best rounds at Wedgewood,” Ward said. “I finished third or fourth a couple of years ago and played in the last group a couple of times when it went two days.

“Playing just one day makes it a lot different since you’re trying to go low and just see what happens out there. I struggled a little bit off of the tee but after that, I played really solid. I feel like my game is getting a lot better going into the school season.”

Zolecki, who competed at Minooka before playing at the University of St. Francis, finished three strokes in back after settling for even-par on the damp Wedgewood layout.

Petrovic, a Minooka teacher and the baseball coach who has enjoyed great success in the tournament ended up tied with Bolin with rounds of 73, and a scorecard tiebreaker gave the 2012 and 2013 champion fourth place this time.

Christopher Jones was next with a 74, Brian Legan and Ryan Patera both shot a 75 and J.R. Ruiz and Steve Tubman each turned in a 76. Fifteen of the competitors finished within 10 strokes of the champion.

Pedro Alarcon won a scorecard tiebreaker over Jose Ramirez in the Mens A division with scores of 67. Alarcon shot a 79 with a 12 handicap while Ramirez turned in an 80 with a 13 handicap. Dave Balick claimed third place with a 69 total (80 and 11).

“I haven’t been playing well but today somehow the stars aligned,” Alarcon said. “For my level, a 79 is a really good score. I wasn’t playing that well yesterday so I was glad when they told me to go home early. When you love to play golf and you get a trophy for doing it, that’s even better.”

In the Men’s B division, Ricardo Gonzalez won the title with a 66 thanks to a round of 82 and a 16 handicap. Sean Whitfield was second with a 72 (86 and 14) while John Matulik placed third with a 73 total (92 and 19). Sunday’s other champion was in the Women’s A division, where Edie Sims finished with a score of 75 after a round of 89 and a 14 handicap.