It's Championship Time for Badker, While Houghton Holds On for Team Title
By
Todd Rose
Special for Second Half
June 1, 2022
BARK RIVER – From the Division 3 boys basketball championship game at the Breslin Center to the Great Northern Conference golf final at Escanaba Country Club, the story of much of Brady Badker’s senior year has been second place.
That changed Wednesday afternoon, as Menominee’s Badker won the individual championship at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final at Sage Run Golf Course in Bark River.
“This one feels good to get off my chest,” Badker remarked after the win. “The last two things I cared about most were basketball and golf, and (it was) runner-up, runner-up. But, this one was kind of the one I wanted really bad because last year I came up short.”
Badker shot a 75 on Wednesday to earn a three-stroke win over Houghton’s Marino Pisani.
Badker marked the front nine as the place where he earned his advantage.
“I’d say on the front nine my approach shots were kind of getting real close,” he said. “I got good looks at birdies instead of those long five-foot par putts. Those are the ones you have to save out here because it’s a tough course. When you’ve got those five-footers for birdie instead of five-footers for par, that really helps to keep your mindset going.”
Aside from the added challenge of wind, the Sage Run course itself presents a challenge on its own.
“A lot of courses that we play up here, you’re hitting wedges and all that in the greens,” noted Badker. “Here, you’re hitting 8-irons and 9-irons, so it’s a little bit higher. You have to think about the wind and the bunkers around the green and behind the hole. If you can hit it long or if you can hit it left, it’s a lot tougher. You kind of have to hit your spots or you’re going to struggle here.”
Runner-up Pisani, a Houghton sophomore, felt he had a bit of a rough start and end but still enjoyed the sunny, warm day at Sage Run.
“I thought it was a pretty solid round,” Pisani said. “I started off slow. I had a triple and a couple doubles but rebounded well, stayed composed and kept level-headed. … Somebody told me I was about one back of (Badker) with four to go, and I struggled to close out a bit. I took a double on one of my last holes and had a couple missed putts, but I’ll try not to think about it too much.”
While Pisani finished runner-up in the individual standings – ahead of a three-way tie between Cole Myllyla (Kingsford), Cooper Pigeon (Iron Mountain) and Tyler Annala (Westwood) for third – his Houghton Gremlins shot a collective 329 to take home the team championship.
“Overall, I thought the team did great,” Pisani said. “Every guy performed well, and I think it was just a great day for golf in general.”
Houghton coach Corey Markham shared his excitement as well.
“I’m really proud of the kids,” he added. “We had never seen the course until yesterday. We came down to do a practice round, and the wind was howling like 30, 35 mile an hour. So it was hard to get a read on how you’re playing the course in those kind of winds. But, they got to see the course and how it was laid out, so that really was great.
“They showed up. I told them going in if we could average between 80 and 85, we’d be right in the mix. We had Marino go down into the 70s, and the rest were all between 80 and 85. So, I’m really proud of how they played today.”
The U.P. Finals championship rounds out a successful year for the Gremlins, who also collected top honors in the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference.
“It was a really good year for us,” said Markham. “We started off slow. We had a late spring, and we had no practice before we played our two first meets and our course opened one day before our third meet. We had a slow start, but once we started playing and getting in a groove we won most of the meets we played in the last quarter of the season.”
Finishing second with a score of 334 was GNC champion Marquette.
“Going in, I thought if the guys played well and had a really good day there would be a good chance we’d be in the mix,” said Marquette coach Ben Smith. “I bet if you asked the kids while they were out there, you probably wouldn’t get too many ‘it’s going great Coach’ responses. But, conditions were tough out there. Obviously, the wind and the course itself is not easy. … But, credit to the kids, they hung in there.”
Smith added that close matches throughout the season helped prep Marquette for the competitive nature of the U.P. Finals.
“We’ve had a couple matches this year that came down to a shot or two,” he said. “So, I think the kids kind of bought into the idea that every swing matters and even if it doesn’t seem like it’s your day, just try and get the ball in the hole. Credit to them, they hung in there for each other and were able to come out with a second-place finish.”
The margins at the top of the team standings were thin as the top five all shot within 12 strokes of each other. After Houghton (329) and Marquette (334) were Calumet and Kingsford tied at 337, with Escanaba rounding out the top five at 341.
PHOTOS (Top) Brady Badker of Menominee tees off on hole 16 at Sage Run Golf Course during Wednesday afternoon's MHSAA U.P. Division 1 Boys Golf Final in Bark River. (Middle) Houghton holds up its first-place team trophy. (Photos by Todd Rose.)
Spring Lake Ace with Basketball Name Showing Off Buckets of Golf Game
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 7, 2022
His last name may be associated with basketball, but Spring Lake senior Evan McDermott is making a name for himself on the golf course.
McDermott’s uncle, Greg, is the longtime men’s basketball coach at Creighton University (Neb.). Greg’s son and Evan’s cousin, Doug, was a three-time, All-American basketball player for his father at Creighton, who recently completed his eighth season in the NBA, currently with the San Antonio Spurs.
Evan McDermott is putting his 6-foot-4 frame and athletic ability to use on the golf course, where the slim bomber has emerged as one of the state’s best players.
“For a long time, I thought I was going to be a basketball player, because that’s obviously big in our family,” said Evan, a 3.9-GPA student who did play basketball for the Lakers. “But then I fell in love with golf.”
McDermott captured the medalist honor with a 3-under par 69 at last week’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Regional at Lincoln Hills in Ludington, helping the Lakers to the team championship.
He and his teammates are putting in the work and hoping for a similar result at this weekend’s Division 2 Final at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University in nearby Allendale.
McDermott can’t think of a better place to conclude his high school career because, outside of the course he grew up playing (Terra Verde in Nunica) and the Lakers’ home course (Spring Lake Country Club), it’s the golf course that he has played the most.
It also helps that one of his biggest mentors in the sport during his high school career happens to be GVSU men’s golf coach Gary Bissell, who is Director of Instruction at The Meadows.
And, finally, he and his teammates have good memories from their last tournament at the links-style course. Spring Lake won the Gull Lake Invitational at The Meadows on May 19, a tournament which featured 11 of the state’s top 16 teams in Division 2, and McDermott placed second overall with a 71.
First-year Spring Lake coach Dan Start thinks the combination of a familiar course and an experienced team – with a leader like McDermott – could help the Lakers improve on last year’s eighth-place Finals finish.
“We have played three competitive rounds at The Meadows already this year, so that’s a big plus,” said Start. “All of our guys have the ability to score well, but I like what I saw at Regionals. We had struggles early, but the guys battled and battled and got themselves back on track.”
Max Brown has emerged as a solid No. 2 man for the Lakers, coming up big at Regionals with a 75. Senior cousins Dylan Lisman and RJ Lisman hold down the third and fourth positions, while junior Conrad Bush and senior Braiden McClain have battled for the fifth playing spot.
But without question, McDermott is the leader of the Lakers.
McDermott uses his long, flexible frame to crank drives approaching 300 yards – regularly giving him an edge over his competition. He considers ball-striking his biggest strength, and in recent weeks he’s been heating up on and around the greens.
“I really played well at Regionals. I played the last 11 holes four-under in some big winds,” said McDermott, 18, who has an older sister, Mia, who attends Notre Dame. “I’m just going to try and keep that going at state and not over-complicate things. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
McDermott, a four-year varsity golfer for SL, first made a name for himself by making a run to the finals at the 2020 Michigan Junior State Amateur at TPC Michigan in Dearborn, the summer before his junior year. He then placed third at last year’s LP Division 2 Final, shooting a 68 in his final round.
This spring, he has picked up where he left off as the steady leader of the Lakers. McDermott powered his team to the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue title, with the highlight a sizzling 31 at SLCC in a conference jamboree.
“Evan has amazing physical skills, but he also has the mental toughness – he’s steady Eddie,” explained Start. “You combine that with his work ethic, and the sky’s the limit. He could be a professional golfer.”
He will take the first step in that direction in August, when he leaves West Michigan to play golf and study mechanical engineering at the University of Nebraska.
McDermott has roots in the Heartland as his father, Marty, grew up in Cascade, Iowa, and later was the head men’s basketball coach at Lake Superior State (where he met his wife and Evan’s mother, Rachel) and the University of Dubuque. He has served as the athletic director at Muskegon Community College for the past 15 years.
Evan McDermott said he was “blown away” by his visit to Lincoln, Neb., in the fall, especially attending the Cornhuskers’ night football game against Michigan.
“It was an incredible atmosphere, and it just felt like home,” McDermott explained. “With my dad’s family from down there, I’ve spent a fair amount of time there growing up. I’m used to the cornfields and the wind and the heat.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Spring Lake’s Evan McDermott unloads on a drive. (Middle) McDermott will continue his academic and golf careers at University of Nebraska. (Photos courtesy of the Spring Lake boys golf program.)