Brick bests Veazey in playoff, Marian rolls to regional golf title

FLOSSMOOR | Marian Catholic's 1-2 punch produced a 1-2 finish Wednesday afternoon.

That made winning the Class AA Homewood-Flossmoor Regional easy for the Spartans, who topped the host Vikings by 26 strokes at Coyote Run. Deciding the meet medalist required some work, however.

In fact, an extra hole was needed to break a tie between Marian's Sylvie Brick and Bree Veazey. Brick, a 2010 regional champion, triumphed again as she parred No. 17 while her junior teammate shot a bogey.

"There's no one I'd rather be in a playoff with – it's fun," said Brick, who completed the first 18 holes with a 75. "You want to see her do well, but you want to do well yourself."

Veazey gave Brick an opening when she put her second shot in the water. Brick wasn't pleased with her own drive, so she "tried to lay up to the spot where I hit it (during regulation) because I hit a good shot there."

Spartans coach Linda Gilley was proud of both her players, who led Marian to a team score of 323.

"They both really held it together and fought hard all day,' Gilley said. "We love playing on this course."

Veazey was in good shape midway through her round, as she made the turn with a 2-under-par 34. Seeing as how she has generally performed better on the back nine in tournaments this season, Veazey was expecting the best, but it didn't happen for her this time.

"I didn't have any really bad holes, no double bogeys," Veazey said. "It was just unnecessary bogeys, like missed 3- and 4-foot putts. It started to get a little sloppy – the greens were harder to read, for some reason, and I was just trying to keep pushing.

"It's frustrating when I know (my score) could be a lot lower, but you can't just give up because every stroke counts. When you're playing for a team, you have other people that are counting on you."

Had H-F's Sarah Armstrong not endured a nightmarish three-hole sequence on the front nine, she may have joined Brick and Veazey in the playoff. Despite recording both quadruple and triple bogeys during that stretch, the sophomore still fired an 81, which placed her in a tie for fourth.

"I kind of figured out what I was doing wrong and started dropping putts, and the score turned out OK," Armstrong said. "I ended up getting three birdies and was sinking really long putts for par, which really helped."

The Vikings shot a cumulative 349, which kept them five strokes in front of Lincoln-Way East. Those two schools will join Marian in Monday's Marist Sectional at Old Oak.

"It would have been nice to give (the Spartans) a little more competition score-wise," said H-F coach Rick Pavinato, whose team fired a 336 last week in the SouthWest Suburban Conference meet. "I think the girls were a little nervous because they knew we had to finish 1, 2 or 3 to move on.

"I thought if we could come in with maybe a 330, that might send a message, but I'm happy we finished second."