New Trier’s Bowen buoyed by Western

Fitz Bowen accomplished his goal last week at the Western Junior Championship, one of the biggest amateur tournaments of the year.

While one bad round at Beverly Country Club derailed the New Trier senior from a prime position on the leaderboard, Bowen wasn’t at all upset with his first appearance at the country’s oldest junior event.

In fact, he talked about how the tournament will help him this fall when the Trevians tee it up again.

“It’s going to make playing in high school so much easier,” said Bowen, whose pre-tournament mission was to make the cut and play all four rounds. “I was playing a course that was more 7,000 yards with greens that were super fast, and I held up pretty well.”

Bowen finished 71st after carding rounds of 76-76-87-77 for a 32-over 316. New Trier teammate Ian Wright followed in 72nd (74-78-83-82—317) out of the 73 players that made the 36-hole cut.

Connor Black of Katy, Texas, won the tournament by two shots with a 1-over 285.

“My main goal was to make the cut because I know the only other New Trier golfer to make the cut in recent years was Mills Rendell,” Bowen said of the Vanderbilt player. “It was cool to follow in his footsteps.

“My third round wasn’t so great, though. But I bounced back well on the last day. It was really a great time, and I met some nice kids. I was happy to compete against such a good field. There were 10 or 15 of the top-100 players there.

“It was a great experience.”

Bowen is one of four players back from New Trier’s lineup that finished second at the state tournament in 2010. Bowen tied for 61st as the Trevians ended up second to Lake Forest by four strokes. Wright tied for 35th as a sophomore.

“I think we are going to be really good this year,” Bowen said of New Trier, which owns nine state championships. “I think we have a good shot at winning the title this year. We’re all playing well this summer.”

Also expected to return to the Trevians are seniors Ethan Park and Brian Heck. Defending champion Lake Forest hopes to welcome back five of its six from last fall’s lineup.

“They still have a young team, too,” Bowen said of the Scouts.

Between playing tournaments and practicing, Bowen also teaches children to play golf. He also lends his time to the Special Olympics and works with children with special needs once a week.

Although he’s one of the best players in the state, Bowen isn’t sure if he wants to continue competitive golf in college. He spent last weekend visiting Bucknell, Villanova and Georgetown.

“I am trying to figure out if I want to keep playing,” he said. “I do love golf, and I’ve loved it my entire childhood. But it’s really demanding, so I have to see if that’s something I really want to do. We will have to see how the rest of the summer goes, and how much I still love it.”

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