Joe Zawaski’s car stalled out on the way to the final round of the Naperville Men’s Amateur Championship.
It might have been the last bad thing to happen to him Sunday, or perhaps it was really good omen.
“It stalled out on me at the exact same spot last year on the way here,” Zawaski said.
Zawaski, a Glenview resident, repeated as champion of the 36-hole golf tournament with a round of 4-under-par 68 at Springbrook Golf Course. Except this time, Zawaski took home the title outright after sharing it last year when a storm ended play.
Birdies on the first two holes started Zawaski on the way to a two-day total of 137, just a shot off the tournament record held by Glenn Przybylski. Zawaski won by seven shots over Chicagoan Cody Sundberg, who shot two par rounds of 72.
“Once I started with a couple of birdies, I was trying to push the envelope, especially when I got it to 3-under,” Zawaski said. “Then it (tournament record) popped into my mind a little bit, but not too much because the wind picked up and it was swirling and made it tough.”
A pair of missed 4-foot bogey putts at the eighth and ninth holes left the 26-year-old Zawaski looking to regain his footing on the back nine, and he did it with style.
“At that point, it was let’s just settle down and not freak out,” Zawaski said. “I had to right the ship.”
Like when his car stalled, Zawaski got his game restarted. The 6-foot-3 long hitter eagled the par-5 11th hole, hitting a 330-yard drive into the rough and following with a 168-yard wedge shot before finishing with a 25-foot putt.
Lat year, Zawaski tried to earn a Mackenzie Tour card to play professionally in Canada, but came up short.
“I feel now like I’ve come so far since last year with my game, especially with ball striking,” Zawaski said.
Zawaski will play in the Illinois Amateur and has already qualified for the Illinois Open, which will be held at the Glen Club. He caddies at the Glen Club.
Playing one group in front of Zawaski, Sundberg put together a card with five birdies but could never seriously challenge. He shot par for the second straight day.
“I got a birdie and then would give it back,” Sundberg said. “I got to two shots under after 11, and then gave it back again, then birdied 16 and gave it back at 17.
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“So I just couldn’t stay under par. But it was a fun two days and I feel good about my game because I was competing. If you’re in the mix, it’s good.”
Jordan Velez, Michael Fastert and Scott Dunsire were two more shots in back of Zawaski at 146, while Przybylski tied Joel Cermak for sixth at 148.
In second place by a shot after one round, Naperville’s Zack Spear shot 82 Sunday while Naperville’s Sean Kelley had a 78 after shooting 71 Saturday at Naperbrook.
“The wind kicking up played a big part, plus there were some holes where you couldn’t get at the pin because of its position,” Velez said. “It made it tough to score.”
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Naperville Men’s Amateur
Sunday’s final round
At par-72 Springbrook
Championship flight: Joe Zawaski 137; Cody Sundberg 144; Jordan Velez 146; Michael Fastert 146; Scott Dunsire 146; Glenn Pryzbylski 148; Joel Cermak 148; Sean Kelley 149; Greg Roderique 150; Ryan Patera 151; Nate Esler 151; Zack Spear 152; Michael Bailey 152; Jake Hed 153; Jack Richards 153; Craig Martin 155; Jimmy Roach 155; Jim Keefe 157; Patrick Coyle 157; Bryan Stogsdill 158; Greg Seelinger 159; Erik Anderson 159; Phil Whittles 163; Matt Kohler 164; John Quill 164; Graham Morrison 168; Kevin Yeazell 169; Tom Busch 170; John Stengele 173; Jonathan Hunt 175; Paul Nelson 178; Ed Sandrick 80-WD.
A Flight: Tony Holguin 150; Kenny Wood 151; Brian Trout 153; Greg Cornwell 154; Sean McDonald 155; Jeff Schettek 156; Bill Grommes 159; Bob Trine 160; Jack Krezel 161; Merrill Kaufman 162; Kevin Newquist 162; Patrick Henning 162; Jim Cannan 163; Chris Collander 166; Dave Clark 166; Mike Herbert 169; Patrick Reicher 171; Ken Wood 171.
B Flight: Joe Costello 157, Alex Geddes 159, Chip Haines 161, Craig Youngquist 165; Jeff Krey 165; Doug Wuerfl 166; Steve Samsel 168; Mike Coble 168; Jeff Havel 169; Connor Labedz 169; Kevin Yeazell 169; Ryan Mulhern 170; Dan Pullen 171; Jerry Drewberry 174; Dan Poston 175; Randy DePue 178; Randall Duke 186; David Fritz 85-WD.
C Flight: Judd Hoekstra 158; Dave Cera 166; Satendra Singh 168; David Cook 168; Jim Higgins 168; Kevin Shields 170l Joel Pappachen 170; Patrick Meyer 171; Tom Berry 172; Bobby Merritt 173; Brian Malec 174; Jeff Otero 176; Michael Jablonski 176; David Chang 182; Bryan Berryman 182; Raghu Ramanthan 182; Scott Wolff 184; Jim Ambrose 186; Troy Myers 190; Kevin Jungles 192; Kevin Knoth 201.
D Flight: John Moretti 167; Michel Moretti 170; Michael Petropoulos 182; Stan Mitchell 182; Anand Chandrashkekar 183; Mark Linton 183; Kerry Dougan 184; Chuck Wilde 185; Dave Jonas 186; Ed Fossett 187; Ken Pickett 191; Michael Ducato 195; Ljupco Icevski 196.
E Flight: (net scoring) Amit Gupta 135; Bill Passarelli 143; Paul Pavesic 143; Jim Pniak 145; Don Schumann 146; Pankaj Parashar 149; Jack Payne 150; Tom DiCianni 152; Shyam Santhaman 152; Irish Laqui 153; Dennis Thompson 153; Tom Edison 155; Venkat Padmanabhan 155; Dan Murashige 162; Chris Dublinski 164; Craig Youngquist 165; Jeff Krey 165; Doug Wuerfl 166; Steve Samsel 168; Mike Coble 168; Jeff Havel 169; Connor Labedz 169; Kevin Yeazell Sr. 169; Ryan Mulhern 170; Dan Pullen 171; Jerry Dewberry 174; Dan Poston 175; Randy DePue 178; Randall Duke 186; David Fritz 85-WD.