|
The Suburban Lakes League golf tournament trophy will never again leave the Woodmore Wildcats' trophy case.
First-year coach Steve Burner's team secured final ownership of the two-foot trophy after winning Woodmore's ninth SLL tournament title last Tuesday at Green Hills in Clyde. The SLL is disbanding following the 2010-11 school year.
“We get to keep the trophy,” Burner said. “That was big for the kids.”
The Wildcats, an 11-time SLL tournament runner-up, earned the title by shooting 325 at Green Hills, which featured hot and gusty conditions. Three-time defending champion Genoa was second at 328, followed by Eastwood (332), Lake (336), Otsego (343), Elmwood (354) and Gibsonburg (362).
“The crew we had coming back, they were in quite a few tournaments over the summer,” Burner said. “I think that had a lot to do with the fact that when it came down to the big tournament. They did well because they've been in that situation before.”
The Wildcats' only other appearance at Green Hills this year came in their first event of the season, the Clyde Invitational. They shot 320 to win that tournament against 16 other teams.
“My biggest concern was, we were so up and down during the season,” Burner said. “We played good and bad, but knowing we did shoot well the first time at Green Hills, I thought we had a real good chance. The kids seemed confident playing that course. It's a shorter course and we seem to shoot better on shorter courses. We wanted to basically play smart, play to the center of the greens. If you go for the pins at Green Hills, it can cause you trouble.”
 |
| Sophomore Matt Zatko |
Billy Blausey shot an 8-over-par 79 to finish first for the Wildcats. The junior tied for fourth place overall with Andrew Goeckerman of Genoa and Austin Shafer of Gibsonburg.
“I had the same mentality I had when I went into the Clyde Invitational,” Blausey said. “Keep it in the middle of the fairway and hit as many greens as possible. I played really well. I had a double-bogey around No. 13 and I ended (the round) with three bogeys. Eight over (par) was fine. I normally want to go out and shoot 80, and I can rely on the rest of the team. Everybody on our team can shoot 80.”
Blausey, who has been Woodmore's No. 1 golfer all season, said the 'Cats had their sights set on winning this year's SLL tournament for quite a while.
“It was definitely something we wanted to do,” he said. “We started talking about it at the end of last year. We set our minds that there wasn't any way we weren't going to win it this year. We were going to do what we had to do.”
Sophomore Ty Burner, the coach's son, shot an 81 to place seventh overall for Woodmore.
“Ty is just the opposite of Billy,” coach Burner said. “Billy is a power player who likes to hit the ball long. Ty is smaller and he excels at getting up and down around the green. We all expected the sophomores to shoot around 80. That's what we always talk about.”
Woodmore sophomore Mikayla Baer shot an 82 to take ninth at Green Hills. She ended up placing third overall in the SLL, which combines the scores from each league team's four regular-season shootouts and the tournament to determine its All-SLL teams.
“Mikayla surprised everybody,” Burner said. “I knew she had it in her. She's a heck of a golfer. Her game is power. If you came to watch her play, you would be amazed by her swing.”
Sophomore Matt Zatko shot an 83 to finish 10th for the Wildcats.
 |
SLL golf champion Woodmore — Steve Burner, Mikayla
Baer, Billy Blausey, Sam Schwab, Devin Fisher, Matt
Zatko, and Ty Burner. Baer and Blausey are first team
All-SLL, Burner and Zatko second team, and Schwab
honorable mention. |
“Out of all our golfers, he's the biggest surprise to me,” Burner said. “When I watched him in the summer, he would get mad and play horrible. He's starting to mature and he doesn't get as mad when something goes wrong. He seems to work it out.”
Woodmore's lone senior, Sam Schwab, shot 90 and did not figure in the team's scoring.
“He was very happy the team won, even though he shot what he did,” Burner said. “When we started out, our saying was 'let's win one for Sam.' Hopefully, that's what the kids were thinking when they were out there. Sam's our silent leader and our kids really respect him.”
Blausey said, “Sam's a really nice guy and he's definitely a big leader on our team. He said it meant a lot to him. He's a good guy and someone I look up to.”
Woodmore competed in the Division III sectional on Thursday at Green Hills without Baer, who won the Division II girls' sectional tournament on Tuesday at White Pine Golf Course in Swanton. Her spot on the boys' team will be taken by freshman Devin Fisher.
Baer shot a 7-over 79 at White Pine to become the first Woodmore girl to win a sectional title. The two-time district qualifier advanced to next Tuesday's district tournament at Sycamore Springs Golf Course in Arlington
“The White Pine course is short, so her long game really helped her out,” Burner said. “She started out tough, but she brought herself back around and got back into the game very quickly. She kept her poise.”
Pic-WoodmoreTeam
SLL golf champion Woodmore — Steve Burner, Mikayla Baer, Billy Blausey, Sam Schwab, Devin Fisher, Matt Zatko, and Ty Burner. Baer and Blausey are first team All-SLL, Burner and Zatko second team, and Schwab honorable mention.
Pic-Matt Zatko / Ty Burner / Bill Blausey
(Put name of golfer) (Press photo by Dean Utendorf/www.woodmorephotos.com).
 |
Sports 
Subscribe to this comment's feed