Badker wasn’t designated as one of the NMU golf team’s scorers at the DU Panther Invitational, but he still could compete as an unattached individual at the Stoatin Brae Golf Club between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.

Especially as it was Northern’s final meet before these golfers have to pack away their clubs for the winter.

Badker shot a 2-over-par 73 after his first 18 holes on Saturday in this 36-hole tournament, sitting in a tie for seventh place. He finished off his tourney with an 11-over 82 on Sunday to tie for 37th.

The five guys who did make up the NMU squad — four actually are part of the team score each day — finished in seventh place among 12 teams with a 50-over total of 618, which included freshman Harvey Ylitalo matching Badker’s Day 1 performance on Day 2 with a 73.

Brady Badker

The NMU women were at their own tournament at a nearby course, Stonehedge North Golf Club, with freshman Aavra Relich leading those Wildcats to a 10th-place finish, also among a dozen squads.

With the NMU athletics website, nmuwildcats.com, not listing the two teams’ spring schedule yet, it’s been the normal course for the Wildcats to begin play again in the first half of March, which is still technically winter, playing somewhere in much further southern climes than Marquette.

Here are details from the weekend in Augusta:

NMU men

Ylitalo actually finished as one of the two best scoring Wildcat man, including Badker, at Stoatin Brae, since he shot a 9-over 80 his opening round for an 11-over 153 to tie for 31st.

The Northern team also improved from the first round to the second, shooting a 30-over 314 to open and a 20-over 304 in round two.

Westwood High School graduate and NMU senior Tyler Annala finished in a tie with Ylitalo, shooting rounds of 4-over 75 and 7-over 78 for the same 153 and also a tie for 31st.

Two more Wildcats came in at 14-over 156 and a tie for 42nd — freshman Jacob Daavettila had 80 and 76, while sophomore Levi Pennala had 79 and 77.

And Northern’s fifth player, junior Arthur Ylitalo, came in 56th with a 23-over 165 after 85 and 80.

Lewis, the school that hosted the previous week’s Flyer Fall Invite, won this event at 9-over 577, including a 1-over 285 the second day. Panther Invite host Davenport was a close runner-up at 12-over 580, and did even better the second day than the winners, shooting a 1-under 283.

West Chester was third at 14-over, then Ohio Dominican at 19-over, Wisconsin-Parkside at 25-over and Kentucky Wesleyan at 36-over.

Following the Wildcats was Purdue Northwest in eighth at 51-over, then the Davenport B and C teams, Baldwin-Wallace and Davenport D.

Individually, there were co-champions — apparently the tie wasn’t broken — as both the Panthers’ Cayden Kwan and Ohio Dominican’s Chase Forsyth each shot a 3-under 139, each also shooting a 1-under 70 in the first round and 2-under 69 in the second.

A close third was Lewis’ Jann Atendido at 1-under 141, including the lowest round of the tourney, a 3-under 68 in the second round.

Badker’s career day with his first-round 73 included a birdie on his first hole, the par-5 18th. He then made nine consecutive pars over the front nine, adding a double-bogey on No. 10 and bogey on his final hole, the par-3 17th.

Harvey Ylitalo’s second-round 73 began with three birdies, four pars and a single bogey on his first eight holes, Nos. 11 through 18, then included four bogeys and six pars on his final 10 holes.

Annala began Day 1 with 10 pars and a double-bogey in his first 11 holes, then he soared with an eagle on the par-5 16th and birdie on the par-5 18th to get him to 1-under. He finished off bogey, triple-bogey, bogey to come in at 4-over that round.

Pennala had a pair of birdies in his opening round on the par-4 15th and par-4 fifth, then birdied the par-4 12th in his second round.

Daavettila had a pair of birdies in his second round on the par-4 12th and par-5 16th.

And Arthur Ylitalo had a birdie on the par-5 18th in his opening round. His biggest improvement was going from two double-bogeys and two triple-bogeys his first round to just one double-bogey in his second round.

NMU women

Relich had the best two rounds among Wildcats at Stonehedge North, shooting an 8-over 80 and 7-over 79 for 159, 15-over, to finish 28th.

She led NMU to an 82-over score of 658 as Northern finished 13 strokes ahead of 11th-place Kentucky Wesleyan and 26 ahead of 12th-place Davenport B.

Lewis won with a 26-over 602, nine better than runner-up Saginaw Valley State with 611. Northwood was third at 39-over, while Wayne State and the host Panthers tied for fourth at 42-over.

Relich had a pair of birdies in her opening round, on the par-5 18th and par-3 fourth, as she began her round with four pars before reaching No. 18.

She didn’t have a birdie in the second round, but limited her bogeys to seven without anything worse while chalking up 11 pars.

Junior Payton Donnelly and sophomore Maddy Martens tied for the second-lowest Northern scores of 20-over 164 and also tied for 40th place overall.

Donnelly, with an opening 83, had a rare sighting of an eagle on the par-5, 463-yard ninth, just the sixth eagle in NMU women’s history and the second-longest hole one of these eagles was scored on.

While she didn’t have a birdie or eagle in her second-round 81, she managed 11 pars and just two double-bogeys then.

In shooting a pair of 82s, Martens didn’t get one of Donnelly’s eagles in the first round, but she did put together three birdies, all on the front nine — the par-3 second, par-5 fifth and par-5 ninth.

In her second round, like Donnelly, she didn’t get a birdie, but put up 11 pars with just three double-bogeys.

Northern sophomore Abbie Pietila finished 55th at 27-over 171 on rounds of 87 and 84. She had a birdie in the first round on the par-4 sixth, then did something no other NMU player did in the second round — record a birdie. That came on the par-4 10th.

Also for the Wildcats, senior Gabriela Moreau was 69th with a 47-over 191 on rounds of 94 and 97, getting five pars her opening round and three in her second.

And sophomore Abby Luke played as an individual and was 66th at 42-over 186 on 95 and 91, getting three pars the first day and six the second.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing/previewing the games/meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.