Traverse City Record-Eagle

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  • Glen Lake's Matt OBrien tees off on the 10th hole in the boys Division 4 golf regional Thursday at Mistwood. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

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  • St. Francis' Evan Miller hits out of the bunker on the eighth hole at Mistwood Golf Course on Thursday. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

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June 4, 2010

Leelanau County takes top 3 in golf regional

Glen Lake, St. Mary's, Suttons Bay head to finals

FROM STAFF REPORTS ----

LAKE ANN — Home-course advantage may have been negated a bit by faster-than-usual greens, but it was the three teams that play near Mistwood Golf Course regularly who emerged from Thursday's Division 4 regional to punch their ticket to the state finals.

Glen Lake won the 12-team event with a 329. Lake Leelanau St. Mary's followed just two shots back and Suttons Bay was third at 339.

"It was a Leelanau County sweep," Glen Lake coach Fred O'Brien said. "That was pretty cool."

What wasn't cool, O'Brien said, were the greens, which ran fast.

"We had kids practicing on the putting greens the night before and they couldn't get it to the hole," O'Brien said, "and then (on Thursday), everyone was shooting it right on by.

"The course played tough. The greens were lightning fast and the kids had a tough time adjusting to them."

Inland Lakes' Brandon Visna was the regional medalist, carding a 72.

Glen Lake's Matt O'Brien was second with a 74.

Aside from the top three teams and Visna, Bulldogs teammate Zack Ginop (77) and Traverse City St. Francis' Evan Miller (79) are headed to states as individuals.

Miller overcame some adversity to card his 79. He broke his driver on the range before the round and had to drive with his 3-wood all afternoon.

"It worked out," Gladiators coach Ken Hornyak said. "He ended up playing pretty good."

Glen Lake's other top scorers were Matt Abramson (77), Collin Richards (85) and Mike O'Brien (93).

Lake Leelanau was led by Mike Pendergast (78), Paul Bardenhagen (83), Joe Pendergast (83) and Brad Schaub (87).

Chase Palmer's 78 led Suttons Bay, while Eric Chapman, Conor Loberg and Sean Lammy each fired 87s.

Brethren was fourth, shooting a team total of 365, with St. Francis fifth at 367.

Brethren's Pat Spaulding and Roger Mullett each shot 84, while Jordan O'Connel led Frankfort with a 90 and Jason Send had a 99 for Traverse City Christian.

The state finals are June 10-11 at Eastern Michigan University's Eagle Crest course.

The Lakers — who don't have a senior on their team — will be headed to the final for the second straight year. They placed 11th a year ago.

"We're looking to go down there and do our and come back next year," Fred O'Brien said.

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