Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan University (NMU) men's golf team wrapped up their participation in the Lewis Flyer spring invitational, finishing in 10th place after playing through adverse weather conditions that included a frost delay at the beginning of the competition. The team recorded a two-day score of 629, showing improvement from the first day's 318 by achieving a 311 on the second day. William Jewel secured the tournament victory with a total score of 599, followed closely by Davenport and Maryville.

Leading the Wildcats was Arthur Ylitalo, who ended the tournament tied for 22nd place with a score of 154. Ylitalo's performance was highlighted by an impressive turnaround after early setbacks on the course. "Arthur turned it around on a dime after that, scoring a par on the par three 14th followed by back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th before rattling off ten consecutive pars to finish -2 in his final 13 holes," according to the team report. His consistency was evident in his 26 pars over two days, along with leading the team on the par threes and fives.

The second-best performance on the team came from Tyler Annala, who finished tied for 30th with a score of 156. Annala maintained steady rounds of 78 on both days. He managed to shoot under par early in his second round, marked by consecutive birdies on the challenging 11th and 12th holes.

Walter Ylitalo contributed to the team’s scorecard with a two-day total of 158, achieving three birdies across the tournament and finishing tied for 40th. Kyle Maki and Joe Luke rounded out the team’s players with scores of 161 and 164, respectively, with both players improving their performances in the second round.

Participating as an individual, Russel Sprecher scored 160 over two days, tying for the 45th position and securing a significant number of pars, second only to Arthur.

With the Lewis Flyer event concluded, NMU's golf team is preparing for their upcoming challenge at the Bill Blazer Memorial in Grove City, Ohio. The tournament, held at the Pinnacle Golf Club, is slated for April 5 and 6, allowing little time for rest between the competitions.