Posted online: September 27, 2004 12:46 AM
Print publication date: July 27, 2004

Illinois wins Hasley Cup on 7th try

By Tom Johnston, tjohnston@qconline.com

The smiles and the celebration said it all.

Team Illinois finally won the Hasley Cup in the seventh border battle for golf bragging rights. But they had to scratch it out right to the end for a 16 1/2-15 1/2 victory at Oakwood Country Club.

In the next-to-last group, Illinois' Tyler Pitlik took a 1-up advantage into the 18th hole and ended up tying Bettendorf High School junior Adam Seitz in the only match of the 16 that went the distance. With that match finished, it came down to Illinois captain Brian Soucinek closing out Iowa's Chris Wilkins in the final group.

With darkness setting in, the final foursome was on No. 17. Soucinek pulled a 7-iron on the 177-yard par-3 and put it just short of hole-high -- a perfect position just right of the hole.

``There was no depth perception,'' Soucinek said. ``I just needed to visualize what I wanted. I couldn't have placed it any better.''

Wilkins, who birdied No. 16 to keep Iowa's hopes alive, left his tee ball short of the green. Needing to hole out, his chip skipped past the hole, leading to a concession, Soucinek's 2&1 victory and the Illinois championship.

Soucinek was congratulated on the 17th green by the Cup’s namesake – Jim Hasley, a longtime club pro from the Iowa side. By the time he carted back to the clubhouse to see it was official, the monkey was off his back, as he said.

``It's about time,'' exclaimed Soucinek, who missed a chance last year to give Illinois the victory in the last match on the course when the teams tied. ``In Illinois, we can play some golf, too. ... I did think it would feel this good. There's a lot of pent-up celebration waiting to come out here.''

It was a long time in the waiting for the Illinoisans to leave a Hasley Cup event happy, but they sure did Sunday as they won the traveling trophy in the two-day matches, taking a 9 1/2-6 1/2 advantage in Sunday's singles to offset a 9-7 Saturday deficit.

It ended Iowa's string of victories in the matches pitting the top Illinois players against those from Iowa playing on the National City Bank Amateur Tour summer circuit.

``It was inevitable,'' said Greg Rios, first-time Iowa captain of the Hawkeye state finally losing control of the cup.

Many said it was even the best thing that could have happened for the competition, including Hasley himself.

``I think the interest was waning a little,'' he said.

``I'm not disappointed,'' said Iowa's Tim Flaherty, who won his Sunday singles match 3&1 over Steve Schwabe in the final foursome. ``I think it's good for the Cup. You can't win it all the time and they played great. Congratulations to them. We played the best we could and it just wasn't good enough.''

Illinois' other victories came from Dan Fisher (2&1 over Dave Waugh); Tom Miler (7&5 over Kirk Trede); Duane Stelly (3&1 over Pieter Hanson); Dave Holmes (3&2 over Dean Cavanaugh); Jim Mowen (4&3 over Mike Long); Joe Irwin (6&5 over Rios); and seniors Darrell Reynolds (2&1 over Ron Rode) and Bill Brewster (2&1 over Randy Trine).

In addition to Flaherty, Iowa's winners were: Chad Volquardsen (7&6 over Dan Senatra); Chad Coppinger (2&1 over David Johnson); Mark Drenth (2&1 over Bruce Allison); and seniors Reed Swensen (2&1 over Gene Lebo) and Dan Dalziel (2&1 over Ron Johnson).

``I think this makes the rivalry so much stronger,'' added Soucinek.

And now the guys from Illinois finally get a chance to defend the Hasley Cup.