VIEWS: Guyton adjusts approach
By JAY SCHWAB
-
jschwab@kcchronicle.com
It didn’t take long for Hayley Guyton to detect a different vibe at regionals.
“Whenever I was first on the putting green, compared to the guys, there was singing going on,” Guyton said. “That kind of made it more of a fun atmosphere.”
Guyton, the gifted Kaneland junior golfer, was one of the leaders of Kaneland’s boys golf team before switching to competing on the girls side for IHSA postseason competition. Kaneland doesn’t have a girls golf team so Guyton competes individually in the postseason.
Once play started at regionals, Guyton said the girls were actually more businesslike than the boys, who Guyton said are more inclined to strike up conversation during the round. Guyton herself, sensing the chance to assert her dominance against her own gender, also accounts for some of the more earnest tone.
“I want to beat the girls more so I usually am able to focus better than playing with the guys,” Guyton said.
It wasn’t just the pre-round singing that was music to Guyton’s ears at Wednesday’s Class AA Belvidere North Regional, where Guyton was the regional champion with a round of 78. Finally allowed to hit from the women’s tees naturally makes a substantial difference for a golfer who already was excelling playing by the guys’ rules.
“You think about the holes a lot differently,” said Guyton, a state qualifier as a sophomore. “I'm able to use shorter irons instead of my woods and hybrids more. I kind of have a different perspective. My short game, I don’t have to use it as much as playing from the men’s tees. With men’s tees, my short game has to be good in case I can’t make greens in regulation.”
Next for Guyton is Monday’s Rockford Guilford Sectional, to take place at Ingersoll Golf Course. Guyton plans an extensive weekend of preparation, including a practice round at Ingersoll on Sunday with Kaneland coach Mark Meyer.
If the weather doesn’t straighten out by Monday, Guyton won’t sweat it. It was inclement at regionals, too, and Guyton said the adverse conditions only tightens her resolve.
“Typically with more wind I usually think more about every shot and I tend to play better, actually, because I put more thinking and focus into every shot,” Guyton said. “I'm more consistent, I think.”
In any weather, against any gender, Guyton continues to show her game translates just fine.
Scratch the Ivy: Dave Dudzinski, Kaneland’s 6-foot-8 senior basketball standout, has seen his list of favored colleges change radically during the past six weeks.
Several Ivy League schools were in serious contention for Dudzinski’s services but Dudzinski said the timing isn’t right for the financial commitment that would accompany one of those schools, which can’t offer the full-ride scholarships that most other Division I programs can.
“No matter what kind of education you're going to get, you have to weigh that against the fact that you're paying to go there,” Dudzinski said. “[Financial aid] is just not a scholarship. You pay for a lot of things you wouldn’t have to pay for in a scholarship situation. That was something we definitely thought about, especially with the economy the way it is.”
The East Coast is not entirely out of the question, though. Holy Cross, located, in Worcester, Mass., is one of two schools to which Dudzinski plans to take an official visit this month. Austin Peay is the other.
Loyola, a local option with which Dudzinski already is familiar, and Evansville, which recently watched a Dudzinski open gym session, are other schools high on Dudzinski’s list.
Dudzinski hopes to make his pick before the Knights’ season starts in November.
• Jay Schwab is a Shaw Suburban Media sports editor. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@kcchronicle.com.
