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.)
DCC Closes Perfect Spring with Repeat
June 11, 2016
By Paul Morgan
Special for Second Half
ALLENDALE – Even though Detroit Catholic Central led after Friday’s first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 1 golf tournament, coach Mike Anderson knew things weren’t just right.
‘’On the drive up and during breakfast on Friday morning the guys were very quiet,’’ Anderson said. ‘’Today, it was back to normal, having fun.’’
Ben Smith was the Shamrocks’ poster child for quiet-Friday, fun-Saturday. The junior shot a 6-over par 78 for the first round, but came back for a 2-under 70 on Saturday to help DCC repeat as MHSAA champion.
The Shamrocks shot 299-298 – 597 for the two-day tournament, held at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University. Grosse Pointe South was second with rounds of 302-303 – 605.
Battle Creek Lakeview’s Andrew Walker won a one-hole playoff over Plymouth’s Jack Boczar to take medalist honors. Each shot a 143. The championship was Walker's second straight.
Smith and junior James Piot (71-77 – 148) have been the leaders on Catholic Central’s team, according to Anderson.
‘’As it turned out James had a good first day and Ben had a good second day, so it worked out pretty well,’’ the coach said.
The turnaround for Smith was pretty simple.
‘’Today, I think I missed like two fairways and Friday I think I hit only two fairways,’’ Smith said. ‘’On the first day, it wasn’t really nerves, but I just wasn’t hitting it well and I couldn’t find the fairway, which leads to problems on this course.
‘’Overall, I played really well, but I left a few shots out there. I three-putted twice for par and missed a couple of short ones, but that’s going to happen.’’
Three holes on the back nine were crucial for Smith and his teammates. The junior double-bogeyed the par-3 13th hole, but came back with a birdie on the par-5 14th and then drained a long putt on the par-4 15th for a par.
‘’After making the double bogey, I used that to motivate me to play better,’’ he said. ‘’Luckily, I had that short par five and it’s a birdie hole.
‘’I was thinking to hit a drive out there, put it on in two and either get an eagle or birdie, which is what I did.’’
Added Anderson: ‘’Ben’s played well all year and Friday was his worst round of the season.’’
Also in the top five for Catholic Central was senior Max Palmer (75-75 – 150), junior Sean Niles (75-76 – 151) and junior Sean Sooch (79-83 – 162). Anderson is all smiles when thinking about next year and having to replace just one player.
‘’They didn’t lose an event all year,’’ Anderson said. ‘’All the boys on our team are going to play college golf and they have bright futures.’’
That goes all the way to Catholic Central’s ninth golfer.
‘’My sixth-through-nine golfers could make anyone’s top five,’’ he said. ‘’They will probably play college golf and they can’t make their high school top-five.’’
The all-smiles thing can be said about Grosse Pointe South coach Doug Roby, who isn’t losing a player off his top five. The Blue Devils’ scores were junior Oliver Livingston (71-74 – 145), sophomore Evan Theros (73-75 – 148), junior John Schoof (80-75 – 155), freshman Coalter Smith (78-79 – 157) and sophomore Patrick Sullivan (82-82 – 164).
‘’The kids played well both days,’’ Roby said. ‘’Friday night, we reviewed where we potentially gave away some strokes and it was in the last four holes.
‘’One of the things with this team is our play in that stretch. We just came up short today.’’
Actually, it was most of Catholic Central’s players getting off to hot starts, which put Grosse Pointe South in a position of playing catch-up all day. As a team, the Shamrocks had a seven-stroke lead over the Blue Devils after six holes.
‘’We talked about continuing to do the same things we’ve done all year,’’ Anderson said about the Saturday pep talk. ‘’We have to play our game, which is hitting greens and fairways, making good decisions and taking the double bogey out of play.’’
In doing so, the Shamrocks won the school’s fourth MHSAA golf championship in the past 13 years.
After DCC and Grosse Pointe South, the rest of the team scoring was Grand Blanc 617, Warren DeLaSalle 618, Midland 620, Battle Creek Lakeview 622, Detroit U-D Jesuit 624, Plymouth 630, Bloomfield Hills 632, Ann Arbor Skyline 637, Grand Ledge 641, Northville 650, Rochester Adams 655, Birmingham Brother Rice 657 and Rockford 669.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central clinched its second straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 title. (Middle) Battle Creek Lakeview's Andrew Walker (right) shakes hands with Plymouth's Jack Boczar after winning a one-hole playoff for the individual medalist honor. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)