Good as Gold: QHS senior golfer shoots even par, helps Blue Devils finish third in own invitational

QUINCY — The moment nearly turned out to be as good as Gold.

It still could be transformative.

Quincy High School senior golfer Gabriel Gold posted the score to beat at the 74th annual Quincy Invitational on Saturday at Westview Golf Course, birdieing his final two holes to shoot an even-par 71 and walking off the 18th green with the clubhouse lead.

It wasn’t until one of the final groups to turn in their scores came off the course that Gold learned he had to share the top spot. O’Fallon’s Mason Bassett shot even-par 35 on the back nine to tie Gold and force a playoff for individual medalist honors.

“It was fine,” Gold said. “I’ve been in playoffs before. I won a playoff when I was a sophomore to go to state. So this one wasn’t anything to worry about.”

Bassett felt the same way.

“I was pretty confident going in,” said Bassett, who was undefeated in playoffs. “I knew I was going to win.”

The difference in where their second shots ended up decided it. Hitting out of the right rough, Gold’s pitch hit the collar and barely trickled onto the green. From the rough on the opposite side of the fairway, Bassett clipped a limb, but his ball carried to within 10 feet of the cup.

The O’Fallon junior two-putted for par, while Gold took bogey to finish second individually and help the Blue Devils to a top-three finish in the team standings. Chatham Glenwood shot a 401 — the Quincy Invitational uses five individual scores to calculate the team score — while Moline was second at 403 and Quincy third at 408.

Quincy Notre Dame took eighth with a 418.

“To start off the season, we’ve struggled a little bit,” QHS coach Randy Mettemeyer said. “We played a lot better today. If you would have told me at the beginning we’d be in the top three, I would have taken that all day. There are some good teams here.”

A number of these teams the Blue Devils likely will see again.

Moline and Quincy should battle for the Western Big 6 Conference title, while Chatham Glenwood, fifth-place O’Fallon and sixth-place Alton should all be regional or sectional combatants.

“We know we can compete,” Gold said. “We beat a lot of good teams.”

Gold beat a lot of good golfers, too.

An eagle on the par-5 fifth hole allowed Gold to shoot 1-under 35 on the front nine. He bogeyed three of his first six holes on the back nine before his finishing flourish. He chipped in from 15 yards off the green on the par-5 17th and hit his drive on the par-4 18th to within 60 yards of the green. His approach landed within 10 feet of the cup, and he made the birdie putt.

“My driver was good,” Gold said. “And whenever I got myself into a bad situation, I could get myself out of it.”

He nearly became the first QHS golfer to earn individual medalist honors in the Blue Devils’ signature event since Zach Burry won the title as a junior in 2012.

“He played fantastic,” Mettemeyer said of Gold. “He’s worked really hard his four years to have success in his senior year. It was fantastic. He played phenomenal. I truly enjoyed watching him and I’m really happy for him.”

Bassett, playing as an individual since schools use five-player teams for this event, made 16 pars during his round with a birdie on the par-4 first hole and a bogey on the par-4 third hole.

“I was playing kind of boring,” Bassett said. “But that’s the best type of golf.”

He simply didn’t make mistakes.

“I hit the ball pretty solid,” Bassett said. “I’ve been pretty off and on recently. I thought my short game was pretty good.”

The Blue Devils placed three other golfers in the top 20 — freshman Ty Novosel shot a 76 in his first competitive event of the fall to finish 10th, sophomore Issa Geisendorfer shot a 78 for 15th, and sophomore Hunter St. Clair posted a 79 for 18th.

QND had two players in the top 20 as senior Konnor Craven shot a 76 and was ninth and sophomore Beau Eftink took 19th with an 80. Matthew Boudreau shot an 85.

With temperatures rising and a breeze blowing steadily at times, Gold’s effort sets him up for a season as good as his last name. 

“It really helps my confidence,” Gold said. “Shooting 71 in these conditions is good, too.”