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FORE: Harbor Springs Ace Back for More
October 9, 2020
By Tom Spencer
Special for Second Half
Fore!
Golf etiquette dictates that golfers should always yell "fore" upon hitting a shot that carries the risk of hitting another golfer. As long as one yells "fore," the golfer did all she or he could to warn the other golfers.
Golfers also are supposed to convey this message to others in as polite a manner as possible.
“Four” though is the polite warning golfers should heed as they participate in the Division 4 golf championship at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West on Oct. 17.
The school record-holder from Harbor Springs is not likely to exclaim “four” – but she is looking to at least claim “four” — as in consecutive MHSAA Finals championships.
Jacque O’Neill won the individual title last fall as a junior. She’ll be looking to repeat that feat as well as help the Rams win a third team championship in four seasons after they finished Division 4 runners-up in 2019. O’Neill, now a senior, was a freshman on the 2017 Division 4 champion Harbor team and a sophomore on the 2018 championship squad.
Shouting the word “fore” once usually suffices, although it's acceptable to shout it repeatedly if the shot is sailing toward another group of golfers.
No one would blame O’Neill is she shouted four repeatedly.
But be clear. O’Neill isn’t sounding this warning. Her golfing is.
In addition to seeking a fourth straight team or individual Finals championship, she is likely to be selected to the Division 4 all-state team for a fourth-straight year. She is coming off a third-straight Regional individual championship.
Her hopes for a team title this October lie in four as well. Harbor has a pretty good idea whom of its golfers will fill the top three scoring spots. The fourth will go to one of the newer players. The fourth may make the difference as the Regional champions seek another Finals championship.
“My goal is certainly to win another state championship, but I wouldn’t say that I feel a lot of pressure,” O’Neill said. “I’m just looking at it as another chance to show my ability, and hopefully break my new record.
“Any nerves I feel after that usually changes to excitement, and it is one of my favorite feelings.”
O’Neill put her name in history books this fall. She shot a school-record 73 at the Cheboygan Country Club.
“She works for everything,” said her coach Pete Kelbel. “She practices all the time.
“If she plays a round and her putting his bad, guess where she is practicing ... on the putting green.”
Kelbel is taking the Rams to their eighth-straight Finals. He’s won two titles with his record-setting senior’s older sister, Calli O’Neill. Calli, now on the golf team at Aquinas College, and Jacque have benefited from strong family support and three golf professionals, one of whom is especially closely tied.
Brian O’Neal, the girls’ father, is a golf pro. He was once named to Golf Digest’s “Best Teachers” list in Michigan. Jacque has received guidance from another golf pro, Shaun Bezilla, Harbor Point’s head golf professional and director of instruction. And, her high school coach, Kelbel, is a golf pro at Walloon Lake Country Club.
“I want to express my extreme gratitude for being a part of such an amazing program with such great teammates,” the younger O’Neill said. “Being on the golf team these past four years has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I am very excited about my next chapter. But it is very hard to say goodbye to this one.
“I have met so many amazing people, and I have such great memories,” she continued. “So thank you to everyone who has made this journey so great. I also want to thank Shaun Bezilla for helping me get my game to where it is today along with Pete Kelbel for all of his help in making me the player that I am today. As well as everyone at Boyne Highlands for their support. I would not be where I am today without the help from these people and many more.”
As she prepares for another Final, she is focused on all the family support she receives.
“Calli was one of my teammates in the past, and she has always pushed me to work harder and practice more,” Jacque noted. “She has definitely helped me fall in love with the game of golf because it is something that we love to do together.
“My dad has helped me develop my game throughout the years and pushed me to work harder,” she went on. “My mom, Connie, is my biggest supporter and comes to all my matches. She is always encouraging me. Having a family that all loves golf certainly helps! My extended family has also always encouraged me and helped me along the way, which means the world to me.”
Harbor Springs athletic director Anna Rigby is proud of the golf program’s history. She is looking for another good result at this month’s Finals.
“I've developed an incredible sense of pride watching the program be so successful year after year,” she said. “For Jacque to consistently achieve that level of success in a sport like golf speaks volumes to her fortitude and commitment to the game.
“I'm feeling good about what we'll see from her in the Finals again this year.”
Kelbel has his own “fore” warning for everyone. Although it is really more of a fact of the matter.
“Jacque can’t get enough golf,” he said. “She has kept growing and getting stronger throughout the year and improved her strength as swimmer.
“She’d play if you tied her up like a mummy,” he continued. “She just deals with it and she wants to shoot a school record every time she plays.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTO: Harbor Springs’ Jacque O’Neill fires an approach during the 2019 Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final at Battle Creek’s Bedford Valley. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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Brighton Golf Finds Championship Mix
October 15, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BRIGHTON – When Paul Parsell considers what each of his players brings to the Brighton girls golf program, he can’t help but think about the food.
The Bulldogs’ moms have fed the team incredibly well this season, and that contribution isn’t lost on the sixth-year coach.
The right ingredients make the difference – and it just so happens these moms are fueling what could end up the most accomplished team in Brighton golf’s storied history.
This season’s team is an interesting mix of veterans, newcomers, phenoms and self-made standouts. And the Bulldogs hope it’s a winner as they try to cook up their first MHSAA championship beginning Friday with the first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University.
Brighton has never finished among the top two at an MHSAA Final, but enters this weekend having won all but two of its events and ranked No. 3 in the final LP Division 1 coaches poll.
“It was very fun to see it all come together," said Allie Erkkila, the lineup’s lone senior.
"Our skills are up to par. It's just up to our mental game. Our team is very close, and I think that if we keep a level mindset, we can do our personal best."
Erkkila’s perspective is a unique one on a team filled with them. Start with the top seven players.
There’s the veteran: Brighton finished fifth in Division 1 in 2012 and 12th in 2013, but didn't make last year's MHSAA Final. Erkkila is the only member of the team who has played in the final tournament of the high school season – she was in the lineup for the first round in 2013.
And the athlete: Now-sophomore Heather Fortushniak joined the lineup last season and shot the team’s second-lowest regional core. She’s the team’s best all-around athlete; she played hockey and tackle football growing up and also plays basketball at Brighton. This fall she’s become a more polished golfer, giving the team a strong third player behind a top two that can match any in the state.
The next in line: Freshman Annie Pietila is the middle daughter of five of what could be considered Brighton’s first family of golf. Her older sisters Hannah and Emmie both play at the University of Tennessee and were regulars among the top 10 at their MHSAA Finals. In Annie’s high school debut, at the Traverse City Central Invitational in August, she set Brighton’s school record for 18 holes with a 68.
The standout who gave high school a try: Pietila’s score was tied a week later by a player also making her high school debut. Junior Julia Dean was a veteran of the American Junior Golf Association and already has committed to play collegiately at the University of Baylor. She said she’d always wanted to play on the high school team too, but couldn’t make it work with her schedule. This fall, she could – and joined the team a week in, shooting her 68 to win Brighton’s Coach Miller Invitational.
The elite gymnast: Freshman Autumn Blaney had ascended to Level 10 as a club gymnast before deciding to give golf a try, and that competitiveness has transferred over to a sport she’s played for only six months. Blaney has improved so quickly the Bulldogs used her 84 at their Regional.
And don’t forget 6 and 7: Sophomores Sophia Lowe and Emme Darkowski came to tryouts a year ago shooting in the 120s. Their averages have fallen into the low 90s and they’re pushing hard enough to make the lineup that Blaney had to defeat them in a nine-hole match last week to earn the fifth spot at the Regional.
They lead the way: Parsell has four children ages 6 down to 1 who easily could’ve been reasons for him to step away from the program – if he didn’t consider the team an extension of his family and his oldest hadn't been hanging out at practices since he was 18 months old. A major help has been the addition of assistant Jimmy Dewling, a former Brighton standout who played at Michigan State and returned to coach last fall. During matches they focus on golf-related things like course management. But just as important is the team bonding they foster to make the blend just right.
Dean averages 71 strokes for 18 holes, Pietila 79 and Fortushniak 84. Although maybe not this formidable, the Bulldogs have had similar strength at the top in the past – along with the older Pietilas, Jennica Long is a freshman playing at Florida Atlantic and Nicole Meyer plays at Hope College and three days ago was named Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Women’s Golfer of the Week.
But the biggest difference in this title hunt could be the players carding the fourth and fifth scores.
“What’s shown up for us is the growth of our program. We have really seven golfers that can play, and our five, six, seven probably could be top five for a lot of teams,” Parsell said. “I know a lot of teams out there struggle at four and five, and even three. To have that on our team makes it more competitive. They’re battling for position. You usually do that in college. We’re doing that here.”
And doing so together, which makes this a different and worthwhile experience for players like Dean and Pietila who were used to golf as an entirely individual sport.
“It’s been cool to have that camaraderie with the team and travel with the team, and everything is more of a team effort, which I really like and enjoy,” Dean said. “It’s different in golf; you’re not out there helping your own team. But it just motivates you to do that much better because you’re playing for your team.”
Brighton finished sixth at that Traverse City Central tournament before she joined. But the Bulldogs then won all of their matches and tournaments until the Oct. 1 Kensington Lakes Activities Association final at Pontiac Country Club, where they shot 345 to finish third – seven strokes back of No. 7 Plymouth and one back of Division 2 No. 4 South Lyon. Brighton came back a week later and won its Regional with a 317, 10 strokes better than No. 4 Novi.
The late Bill Miller laid much of the program's foundation during 28 seasons before he died in 2009. Parsell said he's worked to build on Miller's work, taking a top-10 team to one that can contend annually among the top three.
The Bulldogs made runs at the top with Annie Pietila's older sisters, who have visited practices twice this season and continue to cheer on the team as it goes for the ultimate accomplishment.
“They still love the team and they love the coach. They didn’t have a season quite like this, but they had good seasons too,” Annie Pietila said. “They think it’s great I get to experience this.”
Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Brighton’s varsity golfers, from left, Autumn Blaney, Heather Fortushniak, Annie Pietila, Julia Dean, Allie Erkkila, Sophia Lowe, Sydnee Ellingson and Emme Darkowski. (Middle) The players pose with their regional trophy, coaches Jimmy Dewling (left) and Paul Parsell (right). (Photos courtesy of Brighton girls golf program.)