'Unexpected' Medalist Keys D1 Champ
May 29, 2013
By Brandon Veale
Special to Second Half
HOUGHTON – After the Upper Peninsula's infamous spring of 2013, the golfers at Wednesday's U.P. Division 1 Final should have known to expect the unexpected at Portage Lake Golf Course.
Sun-splashed, windless conditions prime for scoring and a medalist who played in his team's No. 3 slot and hadn't broken 80 all season certainly qualified as unexpected.
The man of the hour was Marquette sophomore Scott Frazier, who fired a 1-under-par 71 to earn the medalist honor and lead his team to the overall trophy.
“I'm gonna remember this for a while,” Frazier said after what he described as the best round of his career.
Marquette posted a team total of 308, 15 strokes better than defending champion Houghton, while playing on Houghton’s home course. It is Marquette's first MHSAA title in five years and sixth since competition in nearly-equal divisions began in 2001.
Three over after four holes, Frazier, who started on No. 4, still felt like he had a good round going just a few holes in.
“My putting was unbelievable. I was one-putting everything, and my drives were straight, too,” Frazier said.
He stabilized his round with a big birdie on the par-four ninth hole, then grinded out seven pars and just one bogey over the next eight.
He missed the fairway right on the long, uphill par-5 18th and had his second swing partially obstructed by a tree. All it did was set up a stretch of golf to remember.
“I took out a 3-wood, I took a three-quarters swing, I put it right under a tree branch and I knocked it on (the green) about 20 feet away,” Frazier said.
He rolled in a straight putt for his eagle 3, then wrapped around to birdie both Nos. 1 and 2.
Marquette dropped Frazier's score, a 92, in the Great Northern Conference tournament at Escanaba Country Club last Thursday. But he brought his best game when everything was on the line.
“He's a competitor and a fiery kid,” Marquette coach Ben Smith said. “Part of that turns into frustration sometimes, but he managed it and had a great day.”
Calumet's Reese Lassila, playing with the No. 1's several holes ahead, had no way to know Frazier was catching fire down the stretch.
The 2010 U.P. Final medalist and Copper Country's best golfer all season, he signed for a 74 that was pretty good – but not good enough.
“It's not like I played a bad round of golf. I can't be disappointed,” Lassila, a senior, said.
Lassila started his round with a rollercoaster: bogey on No. 9, par on 10, then birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey.
“I think I really could've heated up on the back nine. But I think every time I made a birdie, I followed it up with a bogey, and it just killed all momentum,” Lassila said.
Lassila finally put two pars together on 18 and 1, then birdied the par-five 2nd hole to get to even-par. But bogeys on No. 5 and his finishing hole, the long par-3 8th, kept him above par for the day. His 74 was still better than his medalist scores in two Western Peninsula Athletic Conference league meets on this course last week.
Key to Marquette's team success was two more golfers in the top five: third-place Jordan Frazier's 76 and just the second 78 of the year from fourth player Mike McGee.
Jordan Frazier, no relation to Scott, arrived from the Las Vegas, Nev., area to Houghton the night before the tournament, but this was no jet-setting trip. Frazier relocated from Nevada to Marquette to play Midget AAA hockey with the Marquette Electricians this season and drove back having not touched a club in four days.
“We won conference and took U.P.'s home to finish off my senior year, which is awesome,” Jordan Frazier said.
The other four Marquette golfers Wednesday were sophomores.
A freshman, Wyatt Liston, led host Houghton to a 323 in an attempt to defend its 2012 championship.
Liston started bogey-double bogey-double, but was even over the next 14 holes for a 78, to tie for fourth individually and all-U.P. honors.
“After the first four (holes), I figured that it can't get much worse, so only good scores from there on,” Liston said.
Sophomore Brendan Longhini scored a 79, one of just seven sub-80 scores on the day.
The other came from Ben Lasecki of third-place Gladstone. The Braves posted a 330. Rival Escanaba was fourth with a 339, followed by Kingsford (348).
After a U.P. prep golf season full of horrors like a Great Northern Conference meet last week played with temperatures in the mid-40s and winds in the low 30s, or a West PAC league schedule during which four meets were rescheduled and two cancelled outright – leading to three meets in three days last week – Wednesday was pleasant enough to put a smile on the faces of even the golfers who turned in a card full of bogeys.
The course was in remarkable shape considering it opened for the season just 15 days ago on May 14, the latest starting date in recorded history for the U.P.'s northernmost 18-hole track.
“(The weather) is awesome for today, but you wish you could've had it a couple other days as well,” Smith said.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marquette's Scott Frazier follows through on his tee shot on the 18th hole at Portage Lake Golf Course during Wednesday's U.P. Division 1 Final. Frazier went on to eagle the hole as part of a 1-under par 71, the medalist score. (Middle) Houghton's Brendan Longhini stares down a putt on the 18th green. He shot a 7-over par 79 for the Gremlins, who finished second to Marquette in the team competition. (Photos by Brandon Veale.)
GR Catholic Central, Cheboygan's Maybank Make History at The Meadows
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2021
ALLENDALE – The beginning of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final wasn’t ideal for the Grand Rapids Catholic Central boys golf team.
The conclusion, however, turned out just fine and resulted in a history-making performance.
The Cougars won the program’s first Finals championship Saturday after shooting a two-day total of 612 at The Meadows at Grand Valley State.
Cheboygan sophomore PJ Maybank won the individual title and set a new LP Division 3 Finals scoring record carding a 135.
Catholic Central finished 28 strokes ahead of runner-up Big Rapids, which tied Hanover-Horton, but won on a fifth-score tiebreaker.
“They actually started out a little bit shaky,” longtime Catholic Central coach Kim Napieralski said. “I wasn’t sure which team I brought (Friday) morning, but then they righted the ship. I think they were a little bit nervous, especially with a young team. The senior leadership was there, but there were some nerves the first few holes. They were fine after that and finished strong.”
The championship capped off a highly successful sports season for Catholic Central, which won football and boys basketball Finals titles in the fall and winter, respectively.
The Cougars, who hadn’t been to the Finals in boys golf since 2015, were led by freshmen Will Preston and Matthew Sokorai, who shot matching 155s to tie for 13th. Senior Andrew Armock was next at 157, and junior John Harmon carded a 160. Junior Luke Preston and senior Thomas Grile combined to shoot a 162 over the weekend.
“They are young, but they are talented and focused so I thought they could do it this year,” Napieralski said. “We don’t have a weak link at all. Anybody could flip for anybody, and it’s been that way all season.”
Catholic Central shot a stellar 306 on Friday to gain control with a 14-stroke lead. The top four golfers shot in the 70s.
“The best teams in sports are the ones that are close with each other and can rely on each other,” Armock said. “We have good chemistry and we all get along, and for our coach to win Regionals and state at the same time for the first time ever is really special.”
Grile, who’s been on varsity all four years, tied his personal low with a final-round 78.
“It’s one thing to shoot 78 with my friends, but this was with tough competition and all eyes on you,” he said. “It was pretty cool to shoot that score and tie my record, and we were always just trying to make it to the state finals. To win it is amazing.”
Grile said the freshmen were welcomed additions.
“They are great kids and they score well, but they are fun to be around, too.” Grile said. “It’s a pleasure to have them on our team, and just having them help us win a state championship is great.”
Maybank, in his Finals debut, shot a scorching 6-under 66 in the first round and then followed it with a 69 on Saturday.
He broke the record previously held by Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Sam Weatherhead, who shot a 136 in 2012.
“I hit it great on Friday, and I did everything really, really solid,” Maybank said. “Today wasn’t as good as yesterday, but it was another good day. I started out a little shaky, but I started to hit it really good after the seventh or eighth hole and then made some nice putts.”
Maybank, who won his first junior golf tournament when he was 7, was one stroke from tying the all-time Finals’ record of 134, held by Hamilton’s Nick Carlson (2015).
“My approach shots were really solid, and I think I hit the most greens I’ve ever hit in a tournament and that really helped,” Maybank said. “This was definitely one of my goals, to win Regionals and win state, so to do both and play this well is definitely all I could ask for.”
Big Rapids experienced another heartbreaking near-miss finishing second for the fourth season in a row.
Junior Luke Welch led the Cardinals with a 154, placing 11th individually.
“We didn’t have too many kids with state finals experience, and we sent our seniors out with four straight runner-up finishes and we had a third,” Big Rapids coach Mark Posey said. “You won’t find too many programs in the state that have that in the last five years. We’re proud of that, and these boys work hard, they listen to their coaches and they know what it takes to play well.”
PHOTOS: (Top) A Grand Rapids Catholic Central golfer hits an approach during Friday’s first round at The Meadows. (Middle) Cheboygan’s PJ Maybank holds up his champions sign after shooting one of the lowest rounds in Finals history. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)