Spartans Roll To Title; NMU 'Learning Experience'
(Trophy photos courtesy of MSU Athletics)
HARRIS---Michigan State rolled to the championship of the Island Resort Collegiate championship at Sage Run.
The Spartans had the top two golfers, as James Piot and Troy Taylor tied for medalist honors. Central Florida finished second after Michigan had a rough day and dropped to third place at the event. Northern Michigan University, the only Division Two team among the ten-team field, finished in last place, but the Wildcats are treating it as a learning experience.
Piot, the regining U.S. Amateur National Champion, started the day with a one stroke lead over his teammate, Taylor. Taylor bogeyed his first two holes, had five birdies and ten pars over the final 16 holes. Piot, meanwhile, went the final 12 holes without a bogey.
Piot won this event in 2019. It was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus.
"This (course) is one of my favorites," Piot said. "It's unique. The T-boxes are sideways on a lot of holes. You don't see that too often. Just being bac up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a beautiful area. It's one of my favorites. I love it. The greens are awesome. It's unique for sure.
Piot and Taylor both carded three-round 209, good for seven under par. Central Florida's Clement Charmasson and Kentucky's Hugo Archer finished tied for third and 213, or four under par. South Dakota State's Matthew Schaefer was fifth at even par.
On the team scoreboard, Michigan State won with 849 strokes, 23 strokes clear of UCF. Michigan faded to third place with 880. Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State tied for fourth with 885 strokes.
Michigan State had four of the top eight golfers on the leaderboard.
Northern Michigan, meanwhile, ended up with 960 strokes. The 'Cats top golfer was Eric Yun, who fired a two-over 74 on Monday and ended up at 15 over par 231 for the tournament. Carter Masson of Negaunee finished with a 240 (76-81-83), Nick Rowley had 244 (80-84-80), Scotty Spyra 248 (84-78-86) and Caden Dunn 257 (90-81-86).
"We're little NMU but we try to hold our own out here, and the boys did a good job of that," NMU Coach Bob Bastian said. "We're using it, obviously, as a learning experience. What do these guys do a little better than us. and what can we do moving forward in our fall season, just one, two percent better than we did today? We've got some things to correct. We're going to move on from here."
"It's a super-big honor to be able to play against these teams," Spyra said. "We definitely don't take it for granted. We just want to try to learn from these guys. See what their tendancies are, kind of where they try to miss, you know, how they play the game, and try to bring it into our team as much as we can. The truth is, we're not going to have to play in tournaments this hard. We'll play against people a little more towards our skill level."
"It's actually pretty cool," Mason said. "It's a good experience. The golf is hard, but it's something you look back on and remember."
Besides the NMU Wildcat team, there were two other local golfers on the course this weekend. Bryce Douglas of Gladstone plays for the University of Detroit Mercy. He had a rough weekend by his standards, shooting a 244 (79-83-82), But he says it will help his season.
"We have a lot of seniors with a lot of potential," Douglas said. "This is one of the biggest tournaments we play in all year. A lot of great teams here. It's really, really competitive out here."
Marinette High School graduate Ty Kretz shot a 229 (76-75-78) for South Dakota State.
"It feels like home," Kretz said. "The whole family's here, and it was nice to see them after being away at college. The wind switched and you just had to adjust. You get down in the big gullies you couldn't feel the wind too much, so you just had to trust that you knew where it was."
Kretz had a double-eagle during a practice round on Saturday.
"I hit a great drive," Kretz smiled. "And I hit an even better 4-iron fromabout 237 (yards) and I didn't see it go in. I thought all the guys were messing with me. But it was in the hole."
The tournament was started by Casey VanDamme, a Mid Peninsula High School graduate who coached South Dakota State University for the last eight years before resigning last week. VanDamme took a job as the head coach of the Kent State University women's program, but he says that won't mean the end of this annual tournament at Sage Run.
"This tournament is going to continue on," VanDamme said. "That was part of the reason why I wanted to come here today. I'm very proud of this event, and the Island Resort and Casino has been an incredible host. They want it to continue on. It will only get bigger and better."
TEAM LEADERBOARD
MICHIGAN STATE 849
CENTRAL FLORIDA 872
MICHIGAN 880
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE 885
KENTUCKY 885
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 888
BOWLING GREEN 911
DETROIT MERCY 920
UW-GREEN BAY 927
NORTHERN MICHIGAN 960
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
WILL ANDERSON (MICH) 69-75-74=218
BRAD SMITHSON (MSU) 71-73-74=218
JACOB COOK (KY) 73-74-71=218
KEVIN JEGERS (MID TEN) 71-70-78=219
ASHTON MCCULLOCH (MSU) 68-74-77=219
LUIS CARRERA (UCF) 74-74-71=219
LIAM GEORGIADIS (SDSU) 72-75-75=219