BOYS GOLF: Rochester prevails at prestigious NextTee Invitational
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
Dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Perform well at the NextTee Invitational and it’s usually a good omen for the rest of the season.
Rochester hopes that is the case this year.
The Division 1 ninth-ranked Falcons soared to the team title at the Prestigious NextTee Invitational at Oakland Hills Country Club Monday, collecting a play-five, count-four team score of 313 to edge unranked Rockford (314) by a stroke.
“It’s been a long, long time since we’ve won a tournament of this magnitude,” admitted Rochester coach Paul Marti. “We had all of those really good teams in the 90s and the one back in 2001. We won a lot of tournaments those years. But winning a tournament like this, with all of these great programs and on such a prestigious course such as Oakland Hills…it means something. I’m hoping it gives them some confidence for the rest of the season. We just need to keep it going.”
SOARING: Rochester’s Mike Murri tied for 10th overall and the Falcons won the title at the prestigious NextTee Invitational. File Photo | Dan Stickradt
Rochester, which is having its best season since finishing 11th at the Division 1 state finals in the fall 2001 season, had four players shoot 82 or lower and all four finished in the top 25 of the 120-golfer field. Sophomore Michael Busse was medalist with a 73, senior Mike Murri and sophomore Scott Difillipio shot 79 to tie for 10th and senior Ludovic Clavette-Lachapelle carded an 82 and finished in a six-way tie for 22nd overall.
“We knew with our top five back that we had a chance to have a really good season,” said Marti, whose team has the Oakland County Division I Tournament coming up next week. “This was not an easy course. The pins were placed tough. But I thought we played really well for such a tough course. It’s nice to have some nice weather, finally, to go out and see what we can do.”
Many of the teams in the field were ranked in one of the state’s four divisions, including the No. 1-ranked schools in D-1, D-2 and D-3. Novi Detroit Catholic Central, ranked No. 1 in D-1, was third at 317, followed by White Lake Lakeland (318), Hartland (319), Swartz Creek (320), Plymouth (321),. Birmingham Brother Rice (321), Detroit U-D Jesuit (323) and Bloomfield Hills (323) in the top 10 of the 24-team field.
In all, 10 ranked teams competed in the field.
Hartland’s Bryle Messner was second in the medalist standings with a 74. Lakeland’s Justin LaFrance was third (75), while Swartz Creek’s Mike Kelly (76), U-D Jesuit’s Jamie Guisinger (76), Rochester Adams’ Brandon Barrows (77), Swartz Creek’s Jack Weller (78), Rockford’s A.J. Varekois (78), Bloomfield Hills’ James Welsch (78) were all close behind. Rochester’s Murri and Difillipio shared 10th place with Lakeland’s Justin Pahl and Plymouth Canton’s Donnie Tropser, all who shot 79.
Boys Golf
NEXT TEE INVITATIONAL
(May 5 at Oakland Hills C.C. South Course, par 72)
TEAM SCORES — 1. Rochester, 313; 2. Rockford, 314; 3. Novi Detroit Catholic Central, 317; 4. White Lake Lakeland 318; 5. Hartland, 319; 6. Swartz Creek, 320; 7. Plymouth, 321; 8. Birmingham Brother Rice, 321; 9. (tie) Detroit U-D Jesuit, 323; Bloomfield Hills, 323; 11. Grand Rapids Christian, 324; 12. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 326; 13. Northville, 327; 14. Battle Creek Lakeview, 327; 15. Saline, 330; 16. Muskegon Mona Shores, 331; 17. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 333; 18. Lake Orion, 337; 19. (tie) Jackson Lumen Christi, 339; East Lansing, 339; 21. Rochester Adams, 341; 22. Plymouth Canton, 342; 23. Birmingham Detroit Country Day, 356; 24. Birmingham Seaholm, 358.
TOP INDIVIDUALS (82 or better) — 1. Michael Busse (Rochester) 73; 2. Bryle Messner (Hartland) 74; 3. Justin LaFrance (White Lake Lakeland) 75; 4. (tie) Mike Kelly (Swartz Creek) 76; Jaimie Guisinger (Detroit U-D Jesuit) 76; 6. Brandon Barrows (Rochester Adams) 77; 7. (tie) Jack Weller (Swartz Creek) 78; A.J. Varekois (Rockford) 78; James Welsch (Bloomfield Hills) 78; 10. (tie) Mike Murri (Rochester) 79; Justin Pahl (Lakeland) 79; Donnie Tropser (Plymouth Canton) 79; Scott Difillipio (Rochester) 79; 14. Daniel Settercceri (Bloomfield Hills) 80; Andrew Stevens (Northville) 80; Matt Robinet (Northville) 80; 17. (tie) Charlie Bolton (Detroit U-D Jesuit) 81; Alex Kleckner (White Lake Lakeland) 81; Ben Zyber (Swartz Creek) 81; Beau Breault (Hartland) 81; 22. (tie) Ludovic Clavette-Lachapelle (Rochester) 82; Kyle Petrovich (Bloomfield Hills) 82; Nicholas Bonema (Detroit U-D Jesuit) 82; Austin Rivet (Hartland) 82; Sam Kuiper (Grand Rapids Christian) 82.
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