Hawks carry confidence into postseason meets

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Maine South's Luke Wlodavski will challenge for medalist honors next week at the CSL South Meet at Sportsman's. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media

Updated: November 10, 2011 12:51PM

Playing golf on the North Shore can alter perceptions of quality.

Maine South most likely could compete with — and beat — most teams in the state. But because the Hawks play in the CSL South, they get lost in the conversation that includes New Trier and Glenbrook North, among others.

The Hawks boast their fair share of talent. Sure, Maine South graduated Tony Albano and Spencer Groessl, two players who made trips to the state tournament. But some of the Hawks are back from a team that narrowly missed out on qualifying for sectionals, including Luke Wlodarski.

The trouble this year has been getting good scores from four players at the same tournament.

“There’s been a lot of inconsistency,” Maine South coach Dave Scott said. “It’s been hard to solidify a lineup.”

So far, no one’s challenged Wlodarski for the top spot. The senior made a big jump from a year ago when he fought to be the fourth scorer. Wlodarski was the medalist last week with a 39 in a close loss to Glenbrook South, 166-169.

“He’s doing a nice job of grinding it out without getting a lot of help,” Scott said. “There’s more pressure put on him this year as the No. 1 player. He’s handled it pretty good.”

Others in the mix include senior Matt Garvey and juniors Andrew Peterson, Corbin Rusteberg, Brandon Lung and Jack Touhy. Garvey is the only one with varsity experience.

“All of them have come and gone at different times,” said Scott, whose team missed out on sectionals last season on a scorecard tiebreaker.

The Hawks can prove themselves next week at the CSL South Meet at Sportsman’s Country Club in Northbrook. Maine South lost all its league dual meets, but the largest margin was by 14 strokes to last year’s state runner-up New Trier.

“We could play really well at conference,” Scott said. “I think we can beat all of those teams, if we play well.

“This is when the golf season starts. Hopefully, we get rolling.”