GAYLORD – No team has been as active this week as the Gaylord golf team.
Weather-stricken area baseball and softball teams, but the Blue Devil golfers were able to get out and compete on three separate occasions; on Wednesday, May 3rd to Cadillac for a Big North Conference Invitational, on Thursday, May 4th to West Branch for the Falcon Invite, and on Saturday, May 6th to wrap up the week with their own BNC Jamboree at the tree tops
And while it was another week of growth and learning for a young group of golfers, it was also another opportunity for one of the state’s top golfers, Senior Kole Putnam, to show his talent again, and he stole the show in both Tournaments As for the Blue Devils, he played along and finished second on a cold, windy day at Cadillac, while on Saturday he ended up at the front of the field with a three-under par day and 67 shots.
Gaylord’s best performance as a team came on Wednesday when he finished third overall with a 326 total, finishing just behind Traverse City West with 308.
Putnam’s second-place 70-stroke performance led the way, followed by Luke Somerville (79), Gage Caverson (80), Aythen Kent (89), Brandt Hogerheide (96) and Marshall Krahniak (108).
“These are all great results for our youngsters and there was something special about the excitement of finally getting a respectable result,” said head coach Tom Johnson. “They work very hard to get better and it was nice to see that it’s finally paying off.”
Thursday’s Falcon Invite at the West Branch Country Club was used more as an opportunity to get the younger players involved, with the varsity roster consisting of three sophomores and three freshmen. Even with the younger group, the Blue Devils performed well, finishing fourth overall with a total score of 363.
Luke Somerville led with his second top ten finish in two days and was seventh with 84 points followed by Brandt Hogerheide (90), Aythen Kent (94), Gage Caverson (95), Marshall Krajniak (101) and Leeland fox (104).
Finally, the team ended the week with their portion of the BNC tournament and hosted their other conference teams at the Treetops North Tradition Course on Saturday.
TC Central again led the team standings (307), but it was Putnam who led the singles field when all was said and done, with a three-under par of 67 for the day, fourth place from Gaylord and a combined score from 325.
Gaylord’s other scorers included Aythen Kent (82), Luke Somerville (83), Brandt Hogerheide (93), Gage Caverson (95) and Marshall Krajniak (103).
The Blue Devils have two more tournaments scheduled this week which will play the Petoskey BNC Invite on Monday May 8th at the Bayview Country Club and then the Alpena BNC Invite on Friday May 12th at the Alpena City Course.
