QUINCY — The ending didn’t diminish the process.
Hunter St. Clair is well aware of that.
The Quincy High School senior golfer enjoyed a solid junior campaign last fall, finishing in the top 10 individually in the Class 3A regional and sixth in the Western Big 6 Conference championships to earn all-conference honors.
However, a state tournament trip eluded him. St. Clair qualified for sectionals at Hickory Point Golf Course in Decatur as a junior, but the 78 he posted was not low enough to advance.
“Obviously, it’s a bad taste in your mouth, especially the way that I played and the way that it ended, but I will say that this is a new year,” St. Clair said. “It’s a new opportunity. The nice part about golf is what happened last year doesn’t affect what happens this year. I had a great season last year outside of sectionals, and just because that’s how it ended doesn’t mean that has to affect how it goes going forward.”
St. Clair is carrying plenty of positive momentum into his final prep golf season, having won two tournaments in a 10-day span this summer. St. Clair won a 36-hole Gateway PGA Junior Golf event played at Spring Lake Country Club and Quincy Country Club on July 14 and 15 by seven strokes. He followed up that victory by capturing the title at the Western Illinois Junior Championship at Macomb Country Club on July 25.
That win in Macomb included a stretch of three birdies in six holes to close the front nine.
“The putter’s heading in the right direction,” said St. Clair, who will form a 1-2 punch atop the Blue Devils’ lineup along with junior Ty Novosel. “It’s getting better week by week. I struggled with it a little bit early in the year, but lately, it’s really starting to go in the right direction. I’ve driven the ball really, really well pretty much all summer, which has been helpful.”
St. Clair believes that if he can hone his mental game, he could avenge a less than satisfactory ending to his junior season.
“I still have to improve on some course management stuff throughout the fall, making sure I’m being smart, playing the course the right way and thinking my way around it,” St. Clair said. “That’s going to set up some opportunities to play well if I can work on that.”
QHS coach Randy Mettemeyer has the utmost confidence in the potential St. Clair possesses to take his game to a new level.
“His hard work is starting to pay some dividends,” Mettemeyer said. “He’s always been a grinder, and sometimes I feel like he’s been too hard on himself. He’s come a long way.”
The Blue Devils also return their No. 3 through 6 golfers from last season — Issa Geisendorfer, Tyler O’Brien, Jackson Smith and Andrew Ali.
Mettemeyer said those four players will be just as crucial to the Blue Devils’ team success as Novosel and St. Clair.
“That’s really the whole key to team golf,” Mettemeyer said. “A lot of teams have a couple decent players, but the really good teams are the ones that can run a little deeper. You don’t need everybody shooting in the 70s, but if you have a couple good scores and then have a couple guys shoot 79 to 81, somewhere in there, you can beat a lot of teams.”
The Blue Devils will begin their season at the D.A. Weibring Invitational on Aug. 14. Quincy will also host the Western Big 6 Conference Tournament on Sept. 22 at Quincy Country Club, and Westview Golf Course will be the site of regional play on Oct. 1.
“It makes it nice that the kids will get to sleep in their own beds, and we don’t have to load up the van or the bus, leave the hotel and get to the golf course,” Mettemeyer said. “They can wake up in their own bed, drive to the golf course and get ready to play that morning. We’re excited about that, and we’re also playing a course that we’re familiar with, so hopefully that will give us a home course advantage.”
