Greenhills' Henry Do erases five-stroke deficit to win D4 golf state title and other local results
Greenhills School sophomore Henry Do started the second day of the Division 4 boys golf state championships at The Meadows Golf Course at Grand Valley State University five strokes off the lead.
But he had an ace up his sleeve.
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Greenhills sophomore Henry Do credited his improved putting between rounds for his championship performance at the Division 4 boys golf state finals.
AnnArbor.com file photo
Do and his personal coach and godfather, Dave Kendall -- founder of the Kendall Academy at teaching pro at Miles of Golf -- had worked on Do’s putting after Friday's round.
Do estimated he had 35 putts in the first round. Not bad, but not good enough to separate himself from the field.
The extra work on the greens paid off on Saturday. Do shot a 5-under-par 67 (with 30 putts) to finish 3-under for the tournament and take medalist honors.
“After the round on Friday (Kendall) gave me a pep talk and we worked on my putting,” Do said. “The practice greens were aerated and greens on the course were much faster, so I had to get adjusted to that.”
After starting the day in third place in the team standings behind Auburn Hills Oakland Christian and Kalamazoo Hackett, Greenhills finished second with a combined score of 633.
Oakland Christian (622) took first, while Saginaw Nouvel (643) finished third. Hackett had a rough second day, shooting 338, 22 strokes worse than Friday, and fell to fourth place (654).
Greenhills’ two seniors, Curtis Heisel and Travis Hindle, finished in a three-way tie for ninth place with two-day totals of 156. Heisel shot 77-79 while Hindle was 76-80. Greenhills was the only team with three all-state individuals. Oakland Christian had two.
“I’m really proud of our guys, they played great,” said Greenhills coach Bill Ammerman. “We posted good numbers, I would have taken it coming in.”
Individual pairings on the second day were determined by team standings and Greenhills’ position meant Do was paired with Hackett’s Ted Rider, who ended up taking second, Zach Preuss from Oakland Christian, who finished in fourth, and Dave Buko from Nouvel, who took sixth.
Do said playing in the same group with his top individual competition helped him.
“I think its great,” Do said. “It helps you focus more and pay close attention to each shot. Good competition keeps me focused.”
“It was a good round until the last four holes,’’ Rider said. “I hit the ball way better than it shows and I had a stretch of bad approach shots.
“I was happy for the most part except for two holes.’’
Do is the first individual state champion in Greenhills School history, according to MHSAA records, which date back to 1979. Greenhills’ runner-up finish is its best finish as a team since its runner-up finish in 2001.
Pioneer senior Davis Ransdell started day two of the Division 1 state finals at Katke-Cousins Golf Course at Oakland University just two strokes off the lead with a two-over par 73, and Saline’s Keith Long was just three strokes off after shooting 74.
Ransdell shot an 81 on Saturday, Long an 86, and both finished outside of the top 10. North Farmington’s Max Kollin finished the weekend at even par (144) and won a playoff to take individual medalist honors.
Saline finished 12th as a team after shooting a 646 for the weekend and Huron came in 13th as a team with a 654. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central won the championship with a 593.
Huron moved up from last place, improving 14 strokes after a rough day one performance.
“Four of our five guys had a better score today, we also saw a lot of improvement from our three underclassmen,” said Huron coach Dee Drake. “ Our two sophomores and a freshman came out with a much more positive experience. The experience was encouraging because we learned a lot, adapted to the situation and improved.
Seniors Alex Wunderlich and Rob Aldrich shot 153 (78-75) and 161 (81-80), respectively.
“They weren’t pleased with their two-day totals, but they both improved,” Drake said. “And on most days people would be happy with 78-75, but today is a little different.
“We as coaches and parents, we have perspective as soon as it's over, for them it will take a little longer, but they’ve accomplished quite a bit this year and the team has a lot to be proud of.”
Chelsea senior Mason Wagner was the top finisher of any individual qualifier from a non-qualifying team at the Division 2 finals at Michigan State's Forest Akers East, but fell just short of an all-state performance. Wagner’s two-day total of 150 (72-78) was three strokes shy of a top-10 finish. He started the day in seventh place.
“If you told (Wagner) he was going to shoot 150, he’d be happy, but once you shoot a 72 that first day, that 78 kinda hurt,” said Chelsea coach Joe Ewald. “I don’think he hit it bad, it’s just every miss he really paid for.
“The real difference was, he really wasn’t sinking any putts today,” Ewald said. “Today he just didn’t make those putts he was making yesterday and that’s the way the game goes sometime.”
Dexter finished in 11th place as a team after starting the day in ninth. Ryan Shoner was the Dreadnaughts’ low scorer with a 150 (78-72). DeWitt took first place as a team with a 586 (292-294), seventeen strokes better than second place Cranbrook-Kingswood. Cranbrook’s Griffin Smith took medalist honors with a 141 (70-71).
Manchester senior Nik Stetler, playing as an individual qualifier at the Division 3 finals at Forest Akers West, shot an 83 for the second day in a row to finish with a 166.
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Aaron Knutson shot a 140 (68-72) and beat Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Sam Weatherhead in a playoff to take medalist honors. Jackson Lumen Christi won the team title.