Michael Cermak continued a terrific season by winning a Regional Championship and helping his team qualify for Sectional play.  Cermak took home medallist honors at the Illinois High School Association’s Skokie (Niles West) Regional on Tuesday, October 2 at Sportsman’s Country Club in Northbrook.  Cermak’s two-under-par round of 68 gave him a one-stroke win over Wilson Bowen of New Trier.

Cermak struggled to get into a groove on the front nine, scoring a birdie on the second hole, only to give that stroke back with a bogey at the third hole.  A birdie at the fifth hole, followed by three pars put Cermak one under par, heading into the 460-yard par-four ninth hole, which was playing much longer due to the soggy conditions.  At the ninth, Cermak hit a perfect drive in the fairway.  On his second shot, Cermak hit a five-iron that never left the flag, settling six feet from the hole.  Cermak then buried the putt, for the only birdie recorded at the ninth hole all day.  That put him two-under par after nine holes.

Cermak opened the back nine with four straight pars, but carded back-to-back bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes, which put him back at even par, one stroke behind Bowen, who was playing in the same group.  Cermak bounced right back on the short par-four 16th hoel, driving the ball just short of the green and hitting his second shot to two inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie.  Cermak followed with a birdie on the par five 17th hole.  After spraying his drive into the woods, Cermak hit a rescue club 265 yards to 25 yards short of the green.  Cermak chipped to about five feet and made the putt for a birdie that tied him with Bowen for first place at two-under-par.

Cermak and Bowen both missed the green on the final hole.  After Bowen failed to get his ball up and down for a par, Cermak was left looking at a six-foot right-to-left putt for the IHSA Regional Championship.  Cermak stepped up and calmly knocked the ball into the hole for the regional title.

Led by Cermak’s 68, the Shamrocks advanced to the IHSA’s Arlington Heights (Hersey) Sectional, which will be held at Old Orchard Country Club on Tuesday, October 9.  Michael’s younger brother Patrick Cermak shot a 75, Kevin Lang carded an 82, and Dan Kasperek shot an 83 for a team total of 308, 14 shots behind the Regional Champion Trevians of New Trier, but good enough to advance the Shamrocks to the Sectionals.

Michael Cermak is attempting to become the first Chicago golfer to claim the state championship since 1930.  Michael Cermak’s oldest brother, Joe finished second in the state in both 2000 and 2003, and fifth in 2002.  Michael’s other brother, Matthew never cracked the top ten in the IHSA State Championships, but he was the last player to record a hole-in-one at the state tournament, carding an ace on the 4th hole at The Den at Fox Creek Golf Course in Bloomington in 2005.