Buffalo Grove’s Ghim wins state junior title

Updated: July 1, 2011 12:58PM

As 15-year-old Doug Ghim, a rising sophomore at Buffalo Grove, marched down the fairway toward the 18th green of Makray Memorial Golf Club in Barrington, the pressure was on him to close out the tournament.

The young star didn’t miss a beat.

Ghim calmly sunk his putt for par, locking up first place Thursday at the 42nd Illinois State Junior Amateur Championship.

Ghim had been in a battle with Brian Bullington, a Lincoln-Way East graduate heading to Iowa this fall, that went back and forth over the final day of competition. But the round began poorly for Ghim, who opened up the day with back-to-back bogeys, and was 3-over par after six holes.

Meanwhile, Bullington, who began the day a stroke off the pace, remained even after carding a bogey and a birdie through six.

“In the beginning it didn’t look like anything was going right,” Ghim said, “I hit some good shots that didn’t turn out as good as I thought they would, but I fought and made some putts.”

Ghim was able to get back on track, however, and through 14 holes was deadlocked with Bullington in a battle for first place.

“It was a little nerve-racking,” Ghim said, “But I had been in this situation before so it was nothing foreign to me. I felt confident.”

Things began to get hectic on the last four holes. Bullington birdied No. 15, however he relinquished the lead after a bogey on the next hole. The 17th turned out to be the defining hole of the tournament when Bullington took a double-bogey while Ghim sank a 35-foot putt to birdie the par-3.

“To be honest, I was just trying to two-putt, I was thinking par and then get to the next hole and finish it off with a birdie, but I made my putt and all I can say is that it went in.” Ghim said.

Ghim finished the tournament at 2-over 215, edging Bullington by two strokes. Lake Forest’s Ian Mankoff, who was tied with Ghim after 36 holes, placed third with 220.

Ghim’s 1-over 72 on the final day may have been considered a bit of a letdown after his course record-tying 65 on day two.

“It was more than I expected,” Ghim said, “I came out here with the mind-set of just trying to get back in contention, and the birdies just kept rolling in, and it just kept going.”

Ghim said he also recorded a 65 last year at Steeple Chase in Mundelein.

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