By DYLAN SAVELA, News Advocate Sports
Published: Thursday, May 6, 2010
ONEKAMA — Jake’s the senior — his younger
sibling, Quinn, a freshman.
The former is now on the home stretch of his high school golf
career, the latter, just getting started.
But on Wednesday, during Onekama’s duel match against Manton at The
Heathlands, the Matthews brothers had more in common than a last
name.
The two led the Portagers to a 165-222 win over the Rangers, each
finishing the front nine with an equal 40, thus sharing match-
medalist honors.
“I had no idea until I came in,” said
Jake Matthews, who was two groups in front of his younger brother.
“It’s pretty cool to end up with the same score as your brother.”
Cool, yes, but planned?
“No way,” Jake joked. “I always try to beat him.”
Quinn was quick to respond: “Next time, I’ll beat him.”
Sibling rivalries aside, the Portagers (5-4, 2-2 WMD) as a whole
cruised into the club house with a comfortable margin of victory to
move them back above .500 in duel matches on the season.
During his last hole of the day, Jake Matthews admitted the outing
was up and down.
“Some good holes, some bad holes,” he said. But, at the conclusion
of the round, the good certainly outweighed the bad. “Any time
you’re a match medalist it’s a good day.”
And Quinn Matthews’ 40 wasn’t the only personal best either.
Sophomore Alex Welch, with back-to-back birdies on holes 4 and 5,
was sitting even after six holes, and finished with a personal
record of 41, while junior Skyler Kimpel rounded out the scoring
with a 44.
Playing, but not factoring into the team score, was Onekama’s
Brenner Johnson (45) and Sean Lowe (48).
The young Manton team was led by their only returner from last
season, Austin Uptegraft, who shot a 45.
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Onekama’s Jake Matthews
putts on the first hole during a match at The Heathlands on
Wednesday. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
“It’s always nice to play at home — to play
well at home,” coach Mary Jo Zadow said of the Portagers’ last regular
season match. “I’m especially happy for Alex and Quinn for shooting
personal bests.
Onekama, who tied a front nine, home course record earlier this season
with a 161, was again on record pace halfway through the match, before
falling just short.
“We’re starting to look a lot better,” Jake
Matthews said. “The first couple matches we had people sitting out and
some early problems, but I think we’ll do fine if we stick together and
keep golfing like this.”
The Portagers will turn around to face a tough test today when they take
on Manistee Catholic Central at the Manistee Golf & Country Club. The
Sabers are currently undefeated in the West Michigan D League.
“Today sets a positive tone heading into competition with, definitely,
the best team in the area,” Zadow said. “So, hopefully going into
tomorrow’s match, we can use tonight’s scoring capability as a positive.
I think the Country Club will be a truer, harder test of their game and
shooting capability.”
The Portagers’ second flight of golfers came in with a trio of personal
bests with Richard Munoz shooting a 48, Brandon Bohannon a 50, and
foreign exchange student from China, Terry Wen with a 63. |