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Mercier Repeats, Chassell Earns 1st Team Title since 1995
By
Todd Rose
Special for Second Half
June 4, 2021
GLADSTONE – Chassell edged Powers North Central and individual champion Bryson Mercier by two strokes Thursday to win the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 3 team championship at Oaks Caddyshack Club in Gladstone.
The Panthers carded a 377 to the Jets’ 379. The top three were capped off by Engadine at 426.
“It’s just been a really good season,” said Panthers coach Erik Crowley. “It’s not a very long season up here, so we made really good time of the work we were able to do. We saw a lot of improvement from the team. Just a really fortunate season. (We had) lots of good kids, and they all improved a lot.”
The runner-up finish was the highest in North Central’s Finals history on the golf course.
“Spring sports are a difficult time because of weather and sharing athletes with other sports,” said North Central coach Gerald Whitens. “I am so proud of our boys and girls teams for their efforts preparing for this tournament.”
North Central junior Bryson Mercier shot 73 to take the individual win ahead of Ontonagon’s Tomas Immonen (75).
Mercier also was the Division 3 champion as a freshman in 2019 before COVID-19 forced last season to be canceled.
“It’s always nice to get a win,” Mercier said. “I left a couple shots out there, but overall, I played pretty well. (Tomas Immonen), who took second, he played a really good round today. I thought he did very well.”
The win, Mercier said, wasn’t without its challenges
“The course played pretty tough with the wind,” he said. “I thought I bounced back from a couple bad shots and am pretty happy with how I played.
“I’m really proud of my team. Really proud of my team,” Mercier added. “Second place, that’s the first time our school has ever gotten a runner-up or finalist, so I’m very proud of my team.”
Whitens spoke highly of Mercier’s performance and overall attitude toward the game and school.
“We are led by the top golfer in the U.P., and his score supports that,” he said. “Bryson is an extremely dedicated young man, whether it's academics or sports. Bryson has always put forth the effort to be the best he can be.
“I have had the pleasure of watching him grow up with a golf club in his hand and driving around with his dad on a golf course for hours every day since he was able to walk. I am so proud of him and the way he carries himself on and off the course.”
Immonen, in his final golf event, shot a personal best at 75.
“Just to say that I can be somewhat close to (Mercier) is pretty good,” said Immonen. “He usually beats me pretty bad every meet, so it was nice to come out here and shoot 75.”
Immonen gave a special thanks to his coach Brady Guilbault. “Thank you Brady Guilbault for being the best golf coach ever,” he said.
Cedarville’s Jay Freel and Chassell’s Dean Pietila tied for third individually at 84. Chassell’s team championship was its second in the sport, with the first coming in 1995. The Panthers also finished Division 3 runners-up in 2011.
“It feels good to finally accomplish something after putting in long hours at the golf course,” said Pietila. “Things got a little rough right off the start. I bogeyed a par-three I shouldn't have. Once all the nerves left, then I started settling in and playing golf.”
The rest of the individual top 10 were as follows: Caleb Kohlmann at 89 (Cedarville), Todd Rautiola (Chassell) and Davin Hill both at 93 (Dollar Bay), Ethan Kopt at 97 (Crystal Falls Forest Park), Brayden Wilhour at 98 (Cooks Big Bay de Noc), and Devin Kipela (Chassell) and Brett LaBonte (Powers North Central) both shooting 99.
PHOTOS: (Top) North Central’s Bryson Mercier putts during his Division 3 championship round Thursday. (Middle) Chassell poses with its first Finals winner’s trophy in the sport since 1995. (Photos by Todd Rose.)
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Top Talent Teeing Off in Upper Peninsula
May 10, 2017
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
ESCANABA - With golf courses like TimberStone, Greywalls and Sweetgrass already ranked among the best in Michigan, and Sage Run expected to join that list soon, Upper Peninsula golf is becoming increasingly high class.
Also contributing are some quality golfers past and present. Scott Hebert and Becky Iverson are already in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, and Syd Wells is in the Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame and a prime nominee for the Michigan golf hall.
Players like Mike Nagy, twin brothers Dan and Dave Ellis, Carley Saint-Onge and Avery Rochester have made an impact, and now high school products like Hunter Eichhorn, Bryce Douglas and others are making similar strides.
Eichhorn, a senior at Carney-Nadeau High School, was the Wisconsin Golf Association's junior player of the year in 2016, played in the national Junior Amateur and has a golf scholarship to Marquette University. Douglas, a senior at Gladstone High School, has a golf scholarship to University of Detroit Mercy.
Thursday they were joined in a threesome at the Escanaba Invitational at Escanaba Country Club by Escanaba High School senior John Kositzky, who has committed to play golf at Wisconsin Lutheran University, a Division III school in Milwaukee.
Heading the female ranks is Paxton Johnson, an Escanaba High School sophomore southpaw who has similar potential.
Wisconsin Lutheran coach Adam Volbrecht attended Thursday's six-school tournament and walked with Kositzky's college-bound trio.
"I was very impressed. I saw some really good golf," Volbrecht said, surprise obvious in his voice. "If you think it is good, it is way better than you think."
He was particularly impressed by Eichhorn, who went birdie-birdie-bogey-eagle on the last four holes of the front nine en route to a 4-under par medalist round of 67. "Hunter is as good a junior golfer as I've seen," he said, adding the overall performances were stronger than he saw in a Milwaukee area tourney the previous day.
He was amazed to see the level of golf on display since Upper Peninsula weather has not made it easy for golfers to hit the links this spring. "It is a big transition jumping right out of winter and going under par," he said. "I saw some very good golf without there being a really good reason for it (because of tough weather conditions Thursday and all spring)."
Volbrecht also liked the fact many of the players he saw are multiple-sport athletes. Eichhorn was an all-conference basketball marksman, Douglas is a former football player and Kositzky actually was attracted to Wisconsin Lutheran to play football before deciding on golf. "There are some benefits to being well-rounded," said the WLU coach.
Volbrecht also enjoyed seeing numerous fans watching the first medal-play event of the season, noting "the Upper Peninsula golf culture. Golf is important up here."
Eichhorn, a three-time U.P. Division 3 individual champion, was excited to play with Douglas and Kositzky. "It was a great challenge. I like playing in bigger meets because I know they will push me to play even better. With great competition you've got to lock in a little more," he said, indicating stiffer competition will help prepare him for the challenge of playing at Marquette, which just won the Big East Conference title and graduates only one senior.
Douglas, who beat Eichhorn in one meet last spring and was fourth in the Upper Peninsula Golf Association men's tournament last year, shot 71 on Thursday. "It was really fun competing with them today. It narrows my focus. You want to do better," he said.
"(Eichhorn) is the best player at our level. Of course you want to compare your game to his game." Douglas said. "It will give me an idea what it will be like to play college golf and will get me ready for what is to come."
Douglas plans to play in the UPGA again and will try to qualify for the Michigan Open, the Michigan Amateur and the United States Open.
Kositzky posted a 78 in the chilly, windy conditions and welcomed the chance to test his game against better players.
"Playing with guys like that, you want to try to keep up with them. I tried to stick to my game plan, but they influence you a little bit," he said. "It gives you that focus."
Escanaba High School coach Brian Robinette, himself a former state junior golf champion and Olivet College Hall of Fame golfer, was elated to see such a talented field of prep golfers.
"From the high school standpoint, golf is becoming cool again," he said, indicating a recent decline in girls golf has been a concern. "Getting kids comfortable on the course is a key. Our adult golf population needs to embrace the kids on the course."
Robinette said players like Nagy (Manistique), Saint Onge and Rochester (both graduates of Marquette) "have paved the way. They are high level, top-tier players."
He said having today's preps see what some of the recent standouts have achieved "gets the competitive nature going for these kids. There is really magnificent talent up here."
He also noted the impact of the Road to the LPGA's Symetra Tour visiting Sweetgrass the past six years as a huge bonus.
Robinette said players like Eichhorn and Douglas can use their length to make the transition to college golf. "(Douglas) will see some stud golfers, but his ceiling is pretty high."
He said Johnson, the reigning U.P. Division 1 girls champion, "has the drive to play beyond high school. She has her golf life mapped out. She can launch the ball with her driver, so now you're talking pars and birdies."
Robinette said South Dakota State University golf coach Casey VanDamme, a native of Perkins, also has been beneficial to U.P. golfers.
"It doesn't take much to find talent if you care to look," Robinette said of college coaches noticing the quality of players in the Upper Peninsula. "The U.P. is on a lot of people's radar."
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and 1984-2012, and as interim during the 2016-17 school year. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTOS: (Top) A college-bound trio of Upper Peninsula high school golfers played in the top threesome at Escanaba Country Club on Thursday. They included, from left, John Kositzky of Escanaba, Bryce Douglas of Gladstone and Hunter Eichhorn of Carney-Nadeau. Eichhorn, headed to Marquette University, was medalist with a 4-under-par 67. (Middle) Escanaba High School sophomore Paxton Johnson prepares to hit an iron approach to the 17th green Thursday at Escanaba Country Club. She is the reigning Division 1 Upper Peninsula girls champion and a potential college prospect. (Below) Bryce Douglas of Gladstone places the ball on the 17th green Thursday at Escanaba Country Club. The University of Detroit recruit posted par 71 in the Escanaba Invitational. (Photos by Dennis Grall.)