Pietila paces NMU women golfers at Warrior Invite
Trending
WASHINGTON, Mich. -- The women's golf team at Northern Michigan University finished ninth among 14 teams at the Warrior Invitational held in suburban Detroit on Monday and Tuesday.
With half the field made up of teams from NMU's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Wildcats finished at 129-over-par 993 for three 18-hole rounds played over two days.
Their team rounds came in at plus-43 331, plus-37 325 and plus-49 337 for four players each round.
Teams apparently could bring in five players, with more who could play as unattached individuals, using the top four scores each round.
Among various team statistics, some of the Wildcats' best were in par-3 scoring, where they tied for fourth at 3.30 per hole; and par-5 scoring, sixth at 5.48 per hole.
Northern was also ninth in par-4 scoring at 4.84, with its 17 birdies and 113 pars each ranking eighth, and 97 bogeys and 43 double-bogeys or worse both seventh.
Full results are available online at scoreboard.clippd.com.
Top finisher for NMU on the par-72, 5,980-yard layout was sophomore Abbie Pietila, who tied for 26th in a field of 83 golfers at 25-over 241 on rounds of 11-over 83, 4-over 76 and 10-over 82.
She was one of just four players overall to shoot even par or better on par-3s and one of just seven to do the same on par-5s. And she led the entire field with nine birdies.
She had four birdies in each of her first two rounds, both played Monday, and one more in the final round on Tuesday. Her prowess showed on the par-3s with three birdies of a possible 12, and par-5s with five birdies, also out of a possible 12.
In her best round, the middle-round 76, she also made six pars and had eight bogeys with nothing worse than that.
Sophomore Maddy Martens was next for the Wildcats, finishing 40th with a 33-over 249 on rounds of 11-over 83, 9-over 81 and 13-over 85.
While she only had two birdies total, one in each of the final two rounds, she also had 25 pars among her other 52 holes. Martens was also NMU's top par-4 scorer at 4.77 per hole, even while both birdies came on the same par-5 11th hole.
Freshman Aavra Relich was right with Martens in a tie for 42nd with a 35-over 251 on rounds of 9-over 81, 13-over 85 and 13-over 85. Relich had just one birdie, but led Northern with 27 pars in her other 53 holes.
Her par-4 scoring was also right alongside Martens at 4.80 per hole.
Then came junior Payton Donnelly in 48th with 39-over 255 on rounds of 84, 83 and 88 as she carded an NMU second-best three birdies while making 20 pars.
And junior Hailey Bolander checked in at a tie for 54th at 41-over 257 on rounds of 86, 86 and 85. She had two birdies, both in her opening round, with 22 pars.
Sophomore teammate Abby Luke competed as an individual and tied for 76th with 63-over 279 on 101, 94 and 84. Her lone birdie came in the final round as she also had eight pars then.
Ashland, Ohio, won the team title with 49-over 913 on two rounds of 15-over 303 on Monday and a 19-over 307 Tuesday.
That was 10 strokes better than event host Wayne State, which came in at 59-over 923 with 305, 314 and 304. Lewis was third with 931 and Ferris State fourth with 936.
Individually, Wisconsin-Parkside's AJ Powell won with a 3-over 219 on rounds of 4-over 76, 1-under 71 and even-par 72. She had eight birdies, one less than Pietila, but only nine bogeys along with one double-bogey.
Powell's total was one stroke better than Wayne State's Ting-Yu Kuo at 4-over 220 on 75, 71 and 74, while Parkside's Lily Zicarelli was third at 8-over 224.
Just in front of the Wildcats was Purdue Northwest in eighth place at plus-124, five ahead of NMU, and just after Northern was 10th-place Tiffin at plus-133, four behind the Wildcats.
NMU takes a week off before traveling to the Flyer Fall Intercollegiate hosted by Lewis University in Lemont, Illinois, on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 5-6. The Northern men will join the women at that event as NMU's men have their own Warrior Invite in suburban Detroit at the end of the fall season.
Story contents based on a
Northern Michigan University women's golfer Maddy Martens tees off during the Warrior Invitational held at the Orchards Golf Club in the Detroit suburb of Washington earlier this week. Martens was the Wildcats' second-best golfer with a three-round total of 33-over-par 249. (Photo courtesy NMU)