Carter Mason

GRAND RAPIDS — Negaunee native Carter Mason tied for the third-lowest round on Sunday to lead the Northern Michigan University men’s golf team to a fifth-place finish at the Panther Invitational hosted by Davenport over the weekend.

Mason shot rounds of 79 and 71 for a 150 total, good for a tie for 14th place overall.

His 71 tied two other golfers and was a score only higher than second-place Robert Holden of Ohio Dominican, who had 69 Sunday, and sixth-place finisher Brandon Bodis of Davenport, who had 70 that day.

The overall top shooter was Mack Cushman of Ohio Dominican, who put together rounds of 65-74–139 to win by a single stroke over Holden. Cushman’s opening round beat the rest of the field by five strokes.

NMU finished with 603 for its highest placing of the fall, as not too surprisingly, Ohio Dominican won the team title with 580, beating out Saginaw Valley State with 583.

Host Davenport was third with 592, while Ferris State had 596.

Finishing behind the Wildcats was Lewis; GLIAC members Wisconsin-Parkside, Lake Superior State and Purdue Northwest; Notre Dame College of Ohio; and Ohio Valley.

Contributing to the NMU total were top-25 finishers Eric Yun and Scott Spyra. Yun, a sophomore, tied for 20th with 79-73–152, while Spyra, a junior, tied for 24th with 76-77–153.

In addition, Wildcats’ senior James Callahan and sophomore Walter Ylitalo tied each other for 28th. Callahan had 77-77–154 while Ylitalo had 73-81–154.

This was Northern’s final event of the fall season and will resume play during the first week of March in Tampa, Florida, at the Saddlebrook Spring Kickoff.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.