AUGUSTA, Mich. - The NMU men's golf team wrapped up round one from the GLIAC Championships at the Stoatin Brae Golf Course, finishing 8th of nine teams at +26. Russell Sprecher led the way for the 'Cats with his round of 73 (+2).
"Challenging weather conditions led to a poor start," stated head coach
Eric Johnson, who witnessed his team shoot a collective +39 in their opening nine holes before rebounding and shooting +14 in the final nine. Augusta saw temperatures in the 40's while under cloud coverage with light rain and a wind advisory, as winds gusted north of 30 mph throughout the day. "It was good to see a couple of them hang in there and finish strong."
The 'Cats +26 (310) sits 13 strokes clear of Lake Superior State at +39 (323) and five strokes behind Purdue-Northwest at +21 (305). Grand Valley State holds the lead after day one, shooting -2 (282) to sit eight strokes ahead of Ferris State and 15 ahead of Wisconsin-Parkside.
The 'Cats played the par 3's at +12 and the par 4's at +31, but were second on the field behind GVSU in par 5 scoring at -4, averaging 4.80 strokes. The 'Cats recorded 43 pars and the third-most birdies on the field with 10.
It was Sprecher leading the way for the 'Cats, shooting a round of 73 en route to a top-10 finish after round one. Sprecher carded a triple bogey on his third hole of the day to put him +3 through three holes before shooting -1 in his final 15 holes, including back to back birdies. Sprecher finished T1 in pars among the field with 14 total.
Walter Ylitalo was next for the 'Cats, finishing with a +7 78 with two birdies and nine pars after recording nines of 40 and 38. A stroke behind him was younger brother
Arthur Ylitalo with a +8 79, followed by
Eric Yun with his +9 80.
Tyler Annala was the fifth 'Cat, shooting a +13 84 (team scores are determined by the teams top-four scorers of five athletes).
A full list of results can be found
here.
Up Next
The second round of stroke play comes from Stoatin Brae tomorrow morning before round one of medal match play starts up tomorrow evening.
