D2 Champs Follow 1st-Place Friday with Celebration Saturday
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2021
BATTLE CREEK — Brockton English had dreamed for more than a year about winning the individual Lower Peninsula Division 2 golf championship, but he was far from confident going into this weekend’s tournament at Bedford Valley Golf Club.
“I played in a big invitational in Indiana earlier in the week, and I played really bad. Just really bad,” said the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior. “I knew the (Bedford Valley) course was going to be easier than what I played in Indiana, but, still, I was a little nervous.”
A fast start Friday, with five birdies in the first 10 holes, cured the nerves, and he carded identical rounds of five-under 67 to win the individual title by five strokes over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice’s Lorenzo Pinili, who shot 68 on Saturday to finish at 139.
Pinili’s Brother Rice team won the team title, however, recording identical rounds of 290 to finish 18 strokes ahead of Flint Powers Catholic.
Warriors coaches Leon Braisted and David Sass, who co-coached the Bloomfield Hills Marian girls to the Division 3 title in the fall, became the first coaches to win Finals with boys and girls golf teams in the same school year.
“It’s a very good feeling,” Braisted said. “We’re tickled pink, and we’re going to let it soak in. It’s been a very productive school year.”
Brother Rice got off to a rough start on Saturday as the pressure of being the leader at the halfway point took its toll early.
“Part of that was nerves,” said senior Colin O’Rourke, who finished with a 74-70—144 score. “Around hole 4 or 5 our five guy settled in, and we started playing.”
The Warriors led by eight strokes over Flint Powers going into Saturday and added 10 strokes to that lead.
“That was pretty special,” O’Rourke said. “We caught a groove and never looked back.”
Pinili shot a 68 on Saturday after teammate Matt Baer had done so the day before.
“I was patient the whole day,” Pinili said. “I was giving myself chances by sticking it to 10 feet or less (from the cup). A couple (putts) didn’t fall, but I stayed patient and most of them did. I got lucky on some shots and I got some breaks and put a good round together.”
While Pinili was staying patient, English had some nervous moments down the stretch.
“On 16 I was trying to go for the green in two to get another birdie and two-putt, but I pulled my 2-iron way left of the green, next to a tree, and I had to take an unplayable lie,” he said. “That really put me on edge. I took a bogey there, and I knew Lorenzo was really close.
“On 17, I was really nervous because I had to sink a 4-footer to save par," he added, "and then I was able to roll in a birdie on 18, and that’s when I knew I had my momentum back.”
That last putt, English said, was bliss.
“It’s a weird feeling. You can’t think about it too much because you don’t want to make a mistake,” he said. “But the last putt is a great feeling. There’s no pressure any more. You make it, or you two-putt. It doesn’t matter.”
For O’Rourke, his last putt was bittersweet.
“It was a sad and happy moment at the same time,” he said. “It was my last high school tournament, but I’m fortunate to take (golf) to the next level and play in college.”
While O’Rourke will play at the University of Dayton next year, the Warriors will have both Pinili and Baer, who was a junior this year, back in 2022.
But this year’s Brother Rice team was talented, deep — and unselfish.
“We have nine guys who averaged 78 or better for 18 holes,” Braisted said. “We were blessed with talent, and we were in a lot of pressure situations. We’re in a strong league, and that experience rubbed off for us today.”
English, who will play golf on scholarship at Drexel University, credited his personal swing coach for keeping him ready through the winter, and his coaches at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep for preparing him mentally during the season.
“Mike Erskine, Kevin Ogg and John Briceland were always pushing me,” he said. “Every practice, they pushed me, giving me the hardest shots to hit against my teammates, and we had some putting contests to put some pressure on me. They didn’t let me stay satisfied. They kept me hungry for more.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice celebrates its Division 2 team championship Saturday at Bedford Valley. (Middle) Flint Powers Catholic’s Robert Burns chips during his second round. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
Grand Rapids Christian Keeps to Plan, Finishes Championship Charge
June 10, 2023
FRANKENMUTH – Grand Rapids Christian junior Dylan Clark admitted that, for him at least, Friday night was a rough one.
He’d shot a 73 during the first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final at The Fortress to tie for sixth individually. But his team still trailed leader and two-time reigning champion Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice by 10 strokes despite carding a solid 300.
And yet, Clark and the Eagles were not without hope – they had a plan. And just about to a person, they credited “the plan” for an impressive comeback Saturday that netted the program’s second Finals championship in this sport and first since 2013.
“We were all pretty confident, me myself especially. We knew it would be a long day today – it’s a marathon, not a 100-meter race – and we came in and stuck to the plan,” said sophomore John Cassiday, who tied for sixth individually. “We were sticking to a plan we drew up a couple of weeks ago, staying within our limits and don’t try to do anything special. We knew we were one of the best teams here, and it showed the last couple of holes.”
Grand Rapids Christian followed that Friday 300 with a 295 during the final round, while Brother Rice shot a 307 as the title chase went to the final holes and the Eagles prevailed by two strokes with a two-day 595.
Clark ended up fifth individually after shooting another 73, and freshman teammate Cooper Reitsma was tied for sixth with Cassiday after cutting his Friday score by four strokes (76-72) to also finish with a 148.
Junior Adam Workman didn’t play Friday but stepped into the Eagles’ lineup Saturday and also carded a 73 to help the charge.
“We felt like we had a good chance today because some of our guys didn’t play their best (Friday), and we felt like if we stuck to our plan that we made as a team, we’d get back closer to the mean for us,” Grand Rapids Christian coach Kevin Broene said. “One of the things we’ve done all year is try to harp on a couple of things that keep us resilient, positive, bouncing back – encouragement – and gosh, if we didn’t embody those things today, I don’t know what day would embody that.
“I’m really proud of the guys for every role that was played today, and they did it.”
Brother Rice’s 307 on Saturday was still the fourth-best score of any team on the weekend – behind only its Friday score and Grand Rapids Christian’s two rounds. Senior Lorenzo Pinili followed up an awe-inspiring 64 from Friday with a 70 on Saturday to finish as medalist after placing second both of the last two seasons. Following him, senior teammate Marcus Lee was the third golfer to tie for sixth individually.
Pinili’s two-day 134 was the lowest two-day tournament score he’d carded in high school golf.
“(Friday’s) round, I was just taking one shot at a time, trusting my shots, trusting my game. My putts were falling yesterday, I was hitting it close yesterday, and everything was going my way. So I was just letting it flow that day,” he said.
“Today was a little bit of an opposite day with the putter – the putter was not as hot. But I still tried to stick with it, tried to let the game flow. I didn’t really worry about anything today.”
Flint Powers Catholic senior Robert Burns gave Pinili a strong chase Friday shooting a 68 on the way to a second-place 141 for the weekend. Gaylord senior Kole Putnam and Stevensville Lakeshore senior Jacob Marohn tied for third at 144.
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids Christian’s Cooper Reitsma looks over a putt during Saturday’s second round at The Fortress. (Middle) Brother Rice’s Lorenzo Pinili is awarded first place individually. (Below) Gaylord’s Kole Putnam tracks a drive. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)