Local Sports

NMU men golfers among best for 2 rounds downstate

AUGUSTA -- The men's golf team at Northern Michigan University had a rough final round to finish sixth among 10 teams at the DU Panther Invitational held at a course between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek over the weekend.

The Wildcats were third after Friday's opening round and in second place after Saturday's second round played at Stoatin Brae Golf Club in Augusta.

This tourney is considered the fall conference meet as teams are scheduled to reconvene at this course in the spring for the true Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

Led by sophomore Jacob Daavettila, NMU had a four-player, 11-over-par score of 295 on the par-71 course after Friday. They struggled a bit more on Saturday with a 16-over 300, but picked up four strokes over first-day No. 2 Saginaw Valley State to move into second.

Then the final day was a real struggle, with Northern shooting a second-worst-in-the-field 37-over 321 to tumble down the leaderboard.

Day 1 saw NMU junior Levi Pennala shoot an even-par 71 with only seven players in the entire field breaking par. Freshman Easton Aho, a Marquette Senior High School graduate, was next with 2-over 73, while the Wildcats' other freshman from MSHS, Boden Moore, had a 4-over 75. Daavettila shot a 5-over 76 with sophomore Harvey Ylitalo carding a 6-over 77.

Only the top four of the five shooters counted each day.

Daavettila caught fire on Saturday, putting together a 2-under 69, the best score, all alone, among the 55 golfers in the field in that round and tying for second best round of the entire event.

Moore had a 5-over 76, Aho a 6-over 77, Ylitalo a 7-over 78 and Pennala a 14-over 85.

Then on Sunday, no Wildcat struggled mightily, but none had an outstanding score, either. Daavettila and Moore led NMU with 8-over 79s, Aho had a 10-over 81, Ylitalo an 11-over 82 and Pennala a 13-over 84.

For the three rounds together, Daavettila finished tied for 11th with an 11-over 224, while Moore tied for 25th with a 17-over 230.

Daavettila's scoring featured an eagle on the par-5 16th in his opening round, while he had four birdies in round two. Moore had five birdies overall.

Aho was one stroke back in a tie for 28th with 18-over 231, Ylitalo 38th with a 24-over 237, and Pennala tied for 40th with a 27-over 240.

Aho carded four birdies to go with a hole-out eagle on the par-4 eighth in his opening round, while Ylitalo had four birdies altogether and Pennala four birdies in his first round alone.

Also for Northern, freshman Maximos Faulkner put together solid rounds of 2-over 73 and 4-over 75 before he was forced to withdraw.

Team-wise, Davenport "A" won the title by 38 strokes with a 1-over 853, shooting consistent rounds -- 1-over 285, 1-over 285 and 1-under 283.

Lewis was runner-up with 39-over 891 as SVSU "A" was third with 42-over 894. Purdue Northwest and Ohio Dominican tied for fourth, just in front of NMU, with 50-over 902.

After the Wildcats, SVSU "B" was seventh with 921, Davenport "B" eighth with 923, Davenport "C" ninth with 964 and Davenport "D" 10th with 993.

Individually, Davenport's Chen-Shiuan (Louis) Wu and Lewis' Jann Atendido tied for low-score honors, each with 1-under 212. Wu carded 67, 72 and 73, while Atendido had 70, 72 and 70.

NMU had one last event in the fall season immediately after this one, the Motor City Shakedown in metro Detroit hosted by Wayne State on Monday and Tuesday.

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.