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Men's Golf 4/17/2026 8:10:00 AM Braden Golisek - Assistant Director of Sports Information

Men's Golf Shoots Blistering Second Round at GLIAC Championships

The 'Cats second round 284 (E) matches the program record for best 18-hole team score

AUGUSTA, Mich. -- The NMU men's golf team began its postseason competition, starting with 36 holes of stroke play at Stonehedge GC in Augusta, Michigan at the GLIAC Championships.

After an opening 18 holes where the team shot +19 and were last in the field, the 'Cats found some mojo for the second round of 18 holes, shooting the third-best team score among the nine teams on the field at even par. The 'Cats second round score trailed only the runaway leader Grand Valley, who sits atop the leaderboard with an impressive -26 (-11, -15), and second place Davenport at -3 (E, -3). Between the first and second round, the 'Cats even was the fourth-best round of 18 team scorecards turned in.

Going into the final morning, the 'Cats sit eighth at +19, behind Roosevelt at +10 and ahead of Purdue Northwest at +32. The top two teams will advance to the medal match finals, with Grand Valley all but punching its ticket as the top team, running away from the field at -26. Davenport holds the number two spot at -3, but Ferris State (+4), Wayne State (+5), Saginaw Valley (+6), and Roosevelt (+7) are all in striking distance.

The full leader board and live scoring for the final day can be found at Scoreboard, powered by Clippd.

Arthur Ylitalo paced the 'Cats through 36 holes of play, shooting a +2 to sit T21. Ylitalo opened with a +3 74 in the morning before rattling off a -1 70 in his second round. Ylitalo recorded six birdies and 22 pars in his opening two rounds, including four birdies and 11 pars in his second round, and not recording a double-bogey or worse on any of his holes. Ylitalo found success on the par-3s, shooting -2 and averaging a score of 2.80, second-best among the field and one stroke back of the leader (-3, 2.70 avg.). Ylitalo moved up eight spots from round one, the fifth-best on the field.

After an opening +10 81 that saw an unfortunate quintuple-bogey on the par-five 16th, Levi Pennala shaved a whopping 12 strokes off in round two, shooting the fourth-best round among the field, a -2 69 to move him up nine places to T36, and was T3 for most movement up the leader board from round one. After a round one that featured two birdies, eight bogeys, and the unfortunate nine on the scorecard, Pennala was clean in round two, opening with a birdie on his first hole before rattling off two more on the par-five sixth and par-four 13th to go with 14 pars and only one bogey.

Both Brady Badker (+5, +2) and Jacob Daavettila (+6, +1) sit at +7 for the tournament after shaving off three and five strokes from round one, respectively. Badker carded two birdies in his second round, while Daavettila birdied the par-five sixth and carded only two bogeys compared to five and a double in round one. Badker and Daavettila recorded 27 and 26 pars, which were good enough for T3 and T6 among the field, respectively.

Tyler Annala (+5, +9) rounded out the 'Cats on the leader board with his two round score of +14, carding five birdies in 36 holes, including a three-hole stretch of consecutive birdies in his second round.

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Players Mentioned

Tyler Annala: 6' 0"; Senior

Brady Badker: 5' 10"; Senior

Levi Pennala: Sophomore

Arthur Ylitalo: 5' 11"; Junior

Jacob Daavettila: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Tyler Annala
: 6' 0"; Senior

Brady Badker
: 5' 10"; Senior

Levi Pennala
: Sophomore

Arthur Ylitalo
: 5' 11"; Junior

Jacob Daavettila
: Freshman