Forest Hills Schools Rule at Forest Akers
June 8, 2019
By Tom Lang
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Brad Smithson of Ada Forest Hills Eastern said he signed to play golf with Michigan State because it’s close to home and he likes the facilities.
Maybe now he loves the facilities.
Smithson just won the Division 2 Final at the home of MSU – Forest Akers West Golf Course – four strokes ahead of DeWitt senior Charlie DeLong, who is next headed to Grand Valley State.
“Hopefully this is a good start to a summer that rolls into the fall, once I get to State,” Smithson said. “Very special (to win here). This is where I’ll be playing golf, so it’s very cool that I was able to get it done here.”
Smithson and DeLong both shot 71 for the lowest scores in the first round Friday, but Smithson went one stroke better with a 70 (141 total) in the final to DeLong’s 74 (145) on Saturday. Andrew Kolar of team champion Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, and Nick Krueger of Spring Lake, tied for third place at 150. Noah Kolar was one stroke off the lead Friday but closed with 79 for fifth place.
“I got a couple really good breaks I’d say; that kind of kept me in it,” Smithson said of the final round. “A lot of par saves through the back nine and really played pretty solid today, in the wind and pretty tough conditions.
“It was hard work, definitely. It was a grind throughout the day. (Friday) was a lot more rough. A lot more bad breaks. Actually, scored pretty well for how badly I hit it. But today I hit it a lot better, got the breaks I needed and was able to get it done.”
Smithson, playing with DeLong, said he knew he had the lead after the 15th hole by at least two strokes, maybe three.
“So, I hit iron on 16 (tee) and made a good par,” he said. “I tried to keep pushing, stay in my same game plan. I didn’t try to change anything.”
Yet he did close out the day with a long birdie that dropped in the cup on the 18th green when he simply was hoping to lag it close.
DeLong said the back nine was the difference maker.
“We were tied after nine holes, but I struggled off the tee and didn’t really get anything going on the back nine,” he said. “But second in the states isn’t too bad.”
Northern won the team championship despite shooting its worst 18-hole score of the season in the second round. With a 296 on Friday and a comfortable 13-stroke lead over DeWitt heading into Saturday, Northern shot 324 to finish at 620. Eastern shot 309 on Saturday and snuck ahead of the Panthers with a 628 total for runner-up honors, while DeWitt dropped to third place with 309-325-634.
Northern coach Brian Telzerow said the team’s previous worst score this year was an 11-stroke difference.
“This feels a lot sweeter just because last year we were right in the hunt and kind of gave it away at the end,” he said of the 2018 runner-up finish to Flint Powers Catholic. “This year we had a great first round, played really well (Friday), that set us up for today. We kind of expected to play better today, and that didn’t happen.
“Anytime you’re in a round like this, you’ve got to just gut it out. And these guys, I commend them for staying in the game – even after hitting balls out of bounds at times, hitting them in the hazards, and not giving up but just grinding through it. We were fortunate to have yesterday’s lead. That helped us hold onto it today.”
Telzerow said he prefers to have a lead after one round instead of trying to fire up the troops for a come-from-behind effort.
“After yesterday we felt good coming into today and thought we could pull it off,” he said about a team that returned four starters from last year. “Pin placements were a little more difficult … but it’s the state finals, it’s the second day … it’s supposed to be hard.”
PHOTOS: (Top) The top six finishers from this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final, including Forest Hills Eastern’s Brad Smithson (far right). (Middle) Forest Hills Northern’s Andrew Kolar chips onto the green. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Pinili Aiming to Add Medalist Honor as Brother Rice Seeks Finals 3-Peat
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 8, 2023
The phrase the “third time is a charm” might often be trite and overplayed, but it also couldn’t apply more to Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice senior golfer Lorenzo Pinili.
Two years ago as a sophomore, Pinili finished as the individual runner-up at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final, five shots out of first at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek.
Last year, Pinili was the runner-up again at Grand Valley State, valiantly rallying from an opening-round score of 76 to shoot a 68 on the second day at The Meadows, but still ending six shots behind.
Both years, Brother Rice won the team title, so Pinili still left happy.
But no doubt, he hopes the third time will be the charm from an individual point of view when he competes at this weekend’s Division 2 Final at The Fortress in Frankenmuth.
“This year, I definitely have a lot more motivation to finish first,” he said. “It’s a lot of patience. That’s what it is. I just have to trust my game and not really force anything. That’s what most people try to do. If they know they want to get a win or know they want to play well, they’re going to start forcing shots that’s out of their comfort zone or do stuff they don’t really do.”
Pinili, who will play collegiately at Michigan State, has been hitting a lot of good shots throughout a golfing life that started when he was 2 years old.
In fact, while Pinili has no recollection of the moment he took up the game, his father Rommel has reminded him constantly throughout his life.
“He said that I picked up a stick while the TV was on and I tried to copy what was on TV,” Pinili said. “From there, he gave me a plastic club, and he gave me real balls. He thought I was making good contact. From there, he gave me real metal clubs, and I was able to hit balls. There’s actually a video on YouTube that you can find of me hitting golf balls at the range when I was 2. From there, it’s been with me my whole entire life.”
Pinili said if there’s one area of his game that has evolved more than any other since he began high school, it’s performing when the stakes are the highest.
Brother Rice associate coach David Sass echoed those sentiments about Pinili’s enhanced ability to stay even-keeled mentally under pressure.
“He has a tendency to have such a high level of expectation for his game, that can kind of prohibit him from looking beyond a simple mistake,” he said. “He’s been really good about doing that lately. Golf is very hard, and it’s really about managing your mistakes. Perfection is basically unattainable in golf. If he stays patient, understands that, picks his spots on when to be aggressive, is aggressive in that moment, and then plays it smart during moments he shouldn’t be aggressive, I think he’s got an incredible chance to win this thing.”
One of the biggest competitors for Pinili this weekend could be someone in the same household.
Leandro Pinili, a sophomore, finished in a tie for ninth last year at the LPD2 Tournament, and definitely helps push Lorenzo to greater heights in the game.
“We share a lot of passion with the game together, and sometimes it gets a little too competitive just because he wants to beat me and I can’t let him beat me,” Lorenzo said. “It’s really nice having someone besides me who understands the side of golf that I understand. It’s also really fun being able to play with my brother and compete with him. I really love it, and that’s one of the biggest things I’m going to miss about Brother Rice golf.”
And no doubt, Brother Rice will definitely miss Lorenzo Pinili when he finishes his high school career on Saturday at a course he is looking forward to playing because it will require precise shots.
“I think it will separate the best from the rest of the pack,” he said. “You really can’t get away with anything out there.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) Brother Rice's Lorenzo Pinili, right, tees off during the 2022 LP Division 1 Finals as Grand Rapids Christian's Adam Workman follows his shot. (Middle) The Warriors celebrate their second-straight team title, including Pinili (standing, third from left) and his younger brother Leandro (standing, fourth from right). Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)