Moore leads NMU men at final golf event of fall
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GROSSE ILE -- Sounds like a dream vacation for a lot of golfers, playing six rounds of golf in five days while away from home.
But the men's golf team at Northern Michigan University was intent on posting good scores at its second consecutive tournament over the last week, the Motor City Shakedown held on the Detroit River island of Grosse Ile on Monday and Tuesday.
Marquette Senior High School graduate and NMU freshman Boden Moore led the Wildcats by tying for fourth place in a field of 27 golfers at West Shore Golf and Country Club.
"Nice seeing our young guys lead the way," Northern head coach Ben Johnson said in an NMU Sports Information news release announcing the results. "This team is only going to continue to grow and get better."
Moore opened tied for second place with a sizzling 2-under-par round of 69 on the par-71 course, adding in rounds of 4-over 75 and 5-over 76 to finish at 7-over 220. Moore's opening round tied for third best overall, only trailing two rounds recorded by one of the co-champions.
The three golfers who finished ahead of him all were from home team Wayne State, which likely meant they had a bit of pretournament course knowledge.
Andrew Daly and Josh Lahner were co-champions after each posted 4-under 209, Daly on rounds of 69, 69 and 71, while Lahner had the best round of the event, 66, along with 75 and 68.
Another Wayne State duffer, Grant Ofield, finished two strokes ahead of Moore with a 5-over 218, carding 71, 71 and 76.
Tying Moore was Roosevelt's Pierre Heylen. His 220 was composed of rounds of 74, 73 and 73.
Moore's 54 holes included five birdies in his opening round, four in the second and four more in the third for 13 total. He also had 14 bogeys and three double bogeys, the balance of 24 holes being pars.
He birdied the par-5, 478-yard 16th hole all three rounds, also getting two birdies on both the par-4, 358-yard fourth and par-5, 500-yard 13th.
Altogether, his 13 birdies ranked second behind Lahner, while his scoring on par-3s with a 3.17 average, par-4s with a 4.24 average, and par-5s with a 4.67 average each ranked in the top eight in the field.
More of the young corps their coach was referring to included Northern sophomore Jacob Daavettila and freshman Easton Aho, also an MSHS grad.
Daavettila tied for 13th with a 14-over 227 on rounds of 10-over 81, even-par 71 and 4-over 75, while Aho was 20th with a 18-over 231 on rounds of 14-over 85, 5-over 76 and 1-under 70.
Daavettila, who totaled seven birdies including three in his opening round, led the field in par-3 scoring at exactly 3.00 per hole with one birdie and just one bogey on those dozen holes.
Like Moore, Daavettila also had a favorite hole, for Daavettila the par-5, 542-yard 17th that he birdied all three rounds.
And like Daavettila, Aho also had seven birdies, though none were in the first round; instead, three were in the second round and four in the final. His favorite hole was the par-4, 402-yard eighth that he birdied twice and added a par.
Aho was in the top 10 in scoring on par-4s, which is the majority of holes, at 4.24 per hole.
Wildcats sophomore Harvey Ylitalo was 24th with a 25-over 238 on rounds of 81, 79 and 78 as he notched two birdies, while junior Levi Pennala was 26th with 37-over 250 on rounds of 89, 83 and 78 as he carded three birdies, including two in his final round.
NMU finished fourth among four schools at 64-over 916 on rounds of 28-over 312, 22-over 306 and 14-over 298, using its four best scorers in each round.
The host Warriors won with a 4-under 848 on rounds of 7-under 277, 5-over 289 and 2-under 282, with Roosevelt a distant second at 39-over 891 and Purdue Northwest third at 40-over 892.
This completes the Wildcats' fall season after playing three rounds in the previous three days at the Panther Invitational in the western Lower Peninsula town of Augusta. They'll pick up the spring season likely in March.
Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.