That could be true for Northern Michigan University freshman Jacob Daavettila if his real love is golf.

The Wildcats freshman turned in his best collegiate finish as he tied for fifth place in the men’s competition at the three-round Saddlebrook Spring Kickoff held at a central Florida course from Tuesday through Thursday.

He shot rounds of 3-over-par 74, 4-over 75 and 5-over 76 in that order to finish at 12-over 225, just three strokes out of second place.

The event, which also included a women’s tournament, was hosted by Walsh University of Canton, Ohio, but luckily for early March golfers, was held much further south at the Saddlebrook Resort located not far from Tampa, Florida.

Jacob Daavettila

Daavettila led the NMU men to a fourth-place finish out of six teams with 940, or 88 over par for a total of 12 individual 18-hole rounds. Davenport won the team title with 887 (35-over), with Saginaw Valley State was runner-up with 905 and Kentucky Wesleyan third with 916. Following the Wildcats were Walsh and St. Xavier tied with 951 each.

A bunched-up group of Northern women all finished their three rounds with the top four golfers within five strokes of each other, led by Abbie Pietila with a 48-over 264.

NMU finished sixth among eight teams with 1,072, or 208 over par for their 12 rounds. Marian (Indiana) won with 947, or 83 over, with Davenport runner-up with 966, SVSU third with 966, Walsh fourth with 999 and Bethel (Indiana) fifth with 1,000.

Following the Wildcats was Kentucky Wesleyan in seventh with 1,101 and St. Xavier eighth with 1,242.

Both Northern teams get right back into action this weekend at the SVSU Spring Invitational being held in a pair of nearby Kentucky cities, Lexington for the men and Georgetown for the women, on Saturday and Sunday. Two rounds are scheduled on the first day in this three-round event.

Here are more details from Saddlebrook:

Men

Daavettila’s previous best finish was 24-over-par at the Panther Invitational held in downstate Augusta in mid-October.

Daavettila

was actually only NMU’s second-best golfer after the first round Tuesday with his 74, since teammate Harvey Ylitalo had a 2-over 73 to be tied for second place overall at that point.

But Daavettila was the steadiest over three days to emerge as Northern’s best shooter by 13 strokes as Ylitalo ended up at 25-over 238 and a tie for 18th.

Daavettila had three birdies, four bogeys and a double-bogey on his opening day; then posting two birdies, three bogeys and a triple-bogey in his middle round; tacking on three birdies, four bogeys and two double-bogeys his final round.

In all, he had eight birdies, 11 bogeys and four scores worse than that.

Ylitalo got all his birdies on opening day, three total, to go with three bogeys and a double. He put together rounds of 73, 79 and 86. While Day 2 didn’t have a birdie, it also didn’t have a double bogey or worse.

Northern’s Brady Badker and Levi Pennala were next, both with 29-over 242 to tie for 24th.

Badker’s rounds were 80, 83 and 79, while Pennala recorded 80, 77 and 85.

Arthur Ylitalo and Tyler Annala, a Westwood High School graduate, were another four strokes after Badker and Pennala at 33-over 246 to tie for 28th.

Arthur Ylitalo had rounds of 80, 84 and 82, while Annala shot 81, 80 and 85.

Women

Pietila tied for 24th with her 264 total on rounds of 90, 87 and 87. She had a birdie and three pars on day 1, a birdie and seven pars on day 2, and eight pars the final day.

Aavra Relich was next for NMU with a 51-over 267 to finish 27th on rounds of 92, 90 and 85. She had five pars in her opening round, two birdies and six pars on day 2, and a birdie and nine pars in the final round.

Maddy Martens was 28th with a 54-over 270 on rounds of 95, 91 and 84, while Payton Donnelly came right after in 29th with a 55-over 271 after rounds of 91, 90 and 90.

Sara Hasse, a Northern golfer competing as an individual, tied for 37th with an 85-over 301 on rounds of 100, 101 and 100, Gabriella Moreau was 39th with an 87-over 303 on rounds of 105, 101 and 97, and Abby Luke was 42nd with a 107-over 323 with rounds of 103, 111 and 109.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases reviewing the event. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.