Sophomore Gale’s success pushes Guerin senior O’Brien

Algonquin Monday, 10/8/12 Geurin's Pat O'Brien tees off on the 10th hole during Monday's 1A sectional held at the Golf Club of Illinois in Algonquin. | Brian O'Mahoney~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: November 12, 2012 10:51AM

ALGONQUIN — At the beginning of Guerin’s 2012 golf season, Pat O’Brien often walked away from the golf course angry.

O’Brien was regularly the team’s top golfer in 2011 by beating freshman Matt Gale, who has been his primary competition on the team for the last two years.

But Gale, a sophomore, made a lot of progress in the offseason and entered this fall wanting to beat O’Brien in each of the Gators’ matches and invitationals, according to Guerin golf coach Don Wilson. While O’Brien made progress in the offseason — the senior took lessons with a golf instructor for the first time and now has an improved swing and greater confidence on the course — Gale was able to shoot scores lower than O’Brien’s in the season’s opening weeks.

Despite his frustration, Gale’s improvement challenged O’Brien to keep getting better.

“He kind of has (pushed me this season) because he’s beaten me before and that kind of gets me mad that he can beat me,” O’Brien said. “It kind of pushes me to do better ... (he gets angry) because I’m a couple years older and he’s like half my size. I don’t really know why, but I just don’t like when people beat me. It just pushed me a lot more.”

O’Brien eventually pulled even with Gale, but under circumstances neither golfer wanted. Gale, who also plays hockey for Guerin, fell on the ice and bruised the cartilage in his right wrist around the mid-way point in the golf season. The injury, while not serious, required a week of rest and it caused Gale to lose some of the progress he had made in the offseason.

“I played a couple rounds with my hurt wrist because I wanted to work it out and stuff, and I kind of changed my swing to adjust to that and I think I carried that with me as my wrist was healing even more,” Gale said. “I had to work that out with (Wilson). It’s gotten better.”

Gale and O’Brien both advanced to sectionals by shooting 89s at Oct. 2’s Chicago University regional at Lost Marsh of Hammond. The Guerin senior shot a 97 Monday at the Golf Club of Illinois sectional, and Matt Gale shot an 89. Gale missed a playoff for the sectionals’ final state berth by one stroke.

Gale still has two seasons of varsity golf remaining. Gale will continue trying to improve, but won’t have his chief competition there to spark him in the offseason.

“We pretty much (motivated) each other,” Gale said. “He wants to beat me, I want to beat him.”

Names in the Game

Pat O’Brien Noteworthy efforts:

O’Brien advanced to sectionals by shooting an 89 on a windy day at Lost Marsh Golf Course in Hammond, Indiana. It was O’Brien’s second time advancing to sectionals. He shot a 97 at the Westminster Christian Sectional at Algonquin’s Golf Club of Illinois on Monday.Matt Gale

Noteworthy efforts:

Similarly to O’Brien, Gale also shot an 89 to join his teammate at sectionals. His season ended with a 89 at Golf Club of Illinois. Gale has had an up-and-down golf season. He began this season playing some of the best golf of his life, but then injured his wrist while playing hockey. While the injury wasn’t serious, the sophomore’s scores slightly dropped in the final third of the season.

Quick Hits

Big Numbers

2 | State titles won in the last five years by Geurin’s final two football opponents. The Gators (1-6) will host St. Francis at 1 p.m. on Oct. 13 and then face Aurora Christian at God’s Field in Aurora on Oct. 19. While the Eagles (7-0) and St. Francis (3-4) are currently in very different positions — Aurora Christian has locked up a playoff spot and the Spartans are on the verge of being eliminated from the postseason — both programs have collected state championships in the last five years. St. Francis won the Class 5A state title in 2008 and Aurora Christian won its first state championship in Class 3A last season.

Sound Bites

“If I could put them together, they’d be perfect.”

— Guerin golf coach Don Wilson, with a laugh, talking about the strengths of golfers Pat O’Brien and Matt Gale. While both players shot the same score at regionals, their strengths as golfers are much different. Gale excels at driving the ball far and accurately off the tee, while O’Brien’s putting is his strong suit.

Don’t Miss

Saturday

Cross Country: at SCC Conference Meet (Marmion Academy), 9 a.m.

Wednesday

Volleyball: St. Edward at Guerin, 6:30 p.m.

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