MARINETE, Wisconsin – Mark Clements matched the lowest round of the day, but it wasn’t enough to make up ground to the eventual winner of the Upper Peninsula Golf Association Championship held at Little River Country Club in northern Wisconsin on Sunday.

The Wawonowin Country Club golfer from Ishpeming shot an even-par round of 70 in the third and final round on Sunday.

With previous rounds of 71 and 75, it gave Clements a three-day total of 6-over-par 216, good for fourth place and seven strokes behind champion Matt Argall of Gladstone.

Argall matched Clements’ 70 on Sunday, and with earlier rounds of 68 and 71, finished with a 1-under-par 209, good for a two-shot victory over Saturday leader Jim Markell of Iron Mountain. Markell ballooned to 75 on Sunday after previous rounds of 70 and 66 gave him a three-shot lead over Markell going into the final 18 holes.

Defending champion Joe Quinn of Gladstone tied for ninth place with 220. Quinn won in 2014 when the tournament was held at his home Gladstone Golf Club.

In that tourney, Clements actually came closer to winning, falling just two strokes short of Quinn, but finished further down the leaderboard in sixth place after Quinn won a playoff with Brian Smith of Sault Ste. Marie and three others missed the top spot by one stroke.

This year was a three-golfer race at the top on Sunday, with Mark Ray of Delta County shooting 71 in the final round to come in at 212, four strokes ahead of Clements.

Clements started the day in eighth place just behind two other area golfers, but leapfrogged them on Sunday. Jared Koski of Ishpeming finished in a tie for fifth place after he shot 72 on Sunday to go with earlier rounds of 74 and 71 for a 217 total, while Rob Ryan of Manistique came home with 75 for a 218 total and a tie for seventh after earlier shooting 73 and 70.

Scott Lauerman of Menominee tied Koski for fifth with 217 on rounds of 70-73-74, while Smith tied Ryan for seventh with 218 on 73-69-76.

No doubt the youngest competitor, at least in the championship flight, was Hunter Eichhorn. The junior-to-be at Carney-Nadeau High School finished in 11th with 221 on rounds of 73-74-74.

In the field of 89 golfers who teed it up starting Friday, other flight winners included Glen Reinke and Wayne Hesselink Jr. in the first flight with 223, Danny Sullivan and Mike Wagner in the second with 233, Steven Kaiser in the third with 235, Brett Hauswirth in the fourth with 250 and Dan Strauss with 271. Home courses for these golfers were available this morning.

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