Lake Orion leads tight pack at golf district
SLOWLY BUT SURELY: Clarkston's Jimmy Delnick watches as his putt on the 16th green sails towards the cup. Delnick finished with an 82 to advance to the regional round as an individual qualifier. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ORION TOWNSHIP — Lake Orion’s boys golf season can best be described as a roller coaster. The Dragons have been up and down all season with its fair share of thrills.
One of those thrills came Thursday afternoon at Paint Creek Country Club.
The Dragons, who clinched a tie for the OAA Red Division title one day earlier, rose above the top of the field Thursday to post a play-five, count-four team score of 326 in winning a Division 1 district crown — its first since the MHSSA added a district round four years ago.
“It’s been our season, a rollercoaster,” offered Lake Orion coach Monty Gallaher. “My best two players are sophomores, I have a freshman in there, couple of juniors. We were up and down. We won the first league tournament and finished fourth in the second league tournament. At Oakland County, we didn’t play well.
“The one thing I told them, I compared them to Secretariat. I told them that this was their second leg. I said ‘maybe I’m holding you guys back’. Just go after an every hole and go have fun,” added Gallaher.
Perhaps the Dragons heeded to that advice, as they were just one of two teams to break 330 on the hilly and difficult course in a tournament played under windy conditions. Lake Orion had three finishers in the top 10 and four in the top 20 out of a field of 65 golfers.
Oxford was second at 328, the second straight year the Wildcats finished second at the district, while Rochester Adams (331), Swartz Creek (332), Rochester (335) and 12th-ranked Grand Blanc (338) followed suit.
The top six teams, plus the top six individuals not on the top six teams, advance to regional play June 9, at Flushing Valley Golf Course.
Rochester Stoney Creek (340), Clarkston (346), Romeo (36), Ortonville Brandon (346), Holly (359), Waterford Kettering (373) and Waterford Mott (394) rounded out the team scores.
Grand Blanc’s Mike Engelman was just one of five players that broke 80 on the warm and windy day, shooting a five-over round of 76 to earn medalist honors.
“Nothing was working great in particular. I just kind of scrapped around and just didn’t make any fatal mistakes,” said Engelman, who had routinely shot in the mid-70s for tournaments all season. “I mean I got up and down when I had to and made some nice shots.”
Swartz Creek’s Michael Clark was one stroke back at 77, followed by Oxford’s Nick Hocker (78), Lake Orion’s Alex Waelchli (79),Brandon’s Andrew Soave (79), Lake Orion’s Mason Norris (80), Romeo’s Patchnap Thangthong (80), Oxford’s J.J. Lewis (81), Adams’ Jamie Stanton (81), Rochester’s Mike Santavica (82), Lake Orion’s Tyler Dragoo (83) and Clarkston’s Delnick (82) all finished in the top 10.
Oxford has posted one of its best seasons to date and coach Terry Kelley felt his team would be among several quality squads in the loaded district.
“I really felt that there were nine good teams here in this district,” offered Kelley, whose team originally shot 327 but had a player disqualified after signing the wrong scorecard. The Wildcats replaced an 84 with an 85, keeping them in second place.
Only 12 strokes separated the six advancing teams, while 20 strokes separated the top 10 teams in the 13-school field.
“I told my kids that there could be 10 strokes difference between first and the sixth qualifier and there were 12 strokes,” added Kelley. “This is about what we anticipated and you couldn’t pick who those six (schools) were going to be.”
Adams advanced with a very young team and finished only five strokes off the lead and three strokes from tying Oxford for second.
“We have no seniors, so I am very gratified that the guys stepped up today,” said Adams coach Dan Picot. “It was a tough course and tough conditions. I feel it was one of the tougher fields (of teams) that we’ve had in a while. For us to come in third without any seniors is a great accomplishment.”
The six players that advanced as individuals included Brandon’s Soave (79), Romeo’s Thangthong (80), Clarkston’s Delnick (82), Stoney Creek’s Mike Doyle (84) and Matt Benner (84), Mott’s Shaun Reiner (84) and Clarkston’s Jack Alli (84).
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Category: Clarkston, High School, High School (M-Z), Lake Orion, Oxford, Prep Wraps, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Stoney Creek
