Boys Golf: Batavia-Geneva team runs away with McChesney Cup title over St. Charles programs

Singles play the difference in season-opening tournament

Batavia’s Gavin Newkirk tees off during the McChesney Cup golf tournament at the Geneva Golf Club on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.

GENEVA – For elite high school golfers the equivalent of baseball spring training is far from necessary.

“I think I had one week off: otherwise, I think I played (competitively) every week,” said Batavia senior Gavin Newkirk, who qualified for the Class 3A boys golf state tournament, on his summer regimen. “It’s definitely an advantage over the (other fall sports).”

“I played in a lot of summer tournaments,” said Austin Frick, a Geneva senior who also made the largest-class cut last October in Bloomington. “All the top names in (Illinois) high school were there. You recognize a lot of the names.”

Monday at the Geneva Country Club, the traditional McChesney Cup — a Ryder Cup-style match-play tournament between the four Tri-Cities high schools — inaugurated a new prep season.

Batavia and Geneva held a slender lead on the two St. Charles programs after the completion of the morning four-ball and foursomes — more commonly referred to as best ball and alternate shot.

Geneva’s Austin Frick putts during the McChesney Cup golf tournament at the Geneva Golf Club on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.

But the Bulldogs’ and Vikings’ eight-man squads swamped their St. Charles counterparts in singles play, capturing 86.5 out of a possible 144 points to post a convincing 160.5-127.5 victory in the 27-hole competition.

St. Charles earned its only victory when East senior Gavin Hunt prevailed 6-3 against the Bulldogs’ Tanner Gawlik.

“In the singles match, I was really confident with my driver,” said Hunt, who halved his two partner competitions. “My mindset was a lot better, and I felt like I was more in the game.”

But Frick and Newkirk initiated the Batavia-Geneva hegemony with a 5-4 and 6-3 win, respectively, in the showdown between the four schools’ top-ranked players.

“We have a solid group of guys (between the two programs) who did a great job today,” Newkirk said. “Par was a good score.”

Each hole was worth one point each in the 16 individual matches.

“I started playing well three weeks ago and I am peaking at the right time for the high school season,” Frick said.

Frick edged the North Stars’ Clay Heilman 1-up.

“I started off well, but Austin came back and got me at the end,” Heilman said.

St. Charles North’s Clay Heilman hits out of the sand during the McChesney Cup golf tournament at the Geneva Golf Club on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.

The Bulldogs’ Ian Steelglove and the Vikings’ Tyler Quisling had the most one-sided victories with their 7-2 triumphs.

“I hit some good shots and made the putts,” Steelglove said.

Jimmy Haug duplicated the 6-3 Newkirk victory for Batavia, a verdict later matched by the Bulldogs’ Drew Freedlund.

Ben Vozza had the last of the Bulldogs’ five wins with his two-hole margin of victory.

Kane Hervey and Adam Warner accounted for nine combined points with their halved matches against St. Charles’ Cole Ridgewood and Aiden Rockwood.

For Geneva, which had its state run of six consecutive team-qualifying berths end last fall, Jesse Balc, Ryan O’Rourke, Laksh Patel, Matt Trimbell and Liam Kellegan all posted singles wins.

Batavia and Geneva nursed a 74-70 lead after the better-ball and alternate-shot partnership competitions concluded.

“They showed us in singles that they were the better team,” St. Charles East coach John Stock said of his two DuKane Conference rivals.