ONEKAMA — As his shot drifted down from
the sky, bounced on the green and rolled toward the cup, Skyler
Kimpel had one thought in his mind. “I thought it was going in,”
said the Onekama junior.
Although his near hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 2 hole at The
Heathlands on Wednesday turned out to be just a tap-in birdie, it
was the only thing that kept Manistee Catholic Central from
finishing with a clean sweep of the West Michigan D League.
After winning all of the dual matches as well as the 18-hole
championship on Tuesday, the Sabers were on the brink of staying
perfect in the league after winning the A Flight scramble Wednesday
with a 5-under 31, two shots better than Onekama.
However, the Portagers put up a fight
in the B Flight to keep the Sabers from going home with all the
hardware.
Onekama’s team of Kimpel, Quinn Matthews and Sean Lowe finished the
front-nine in 35, as did the MCC trio of Zach Luomala, Stephen
Campbell and Gabe Toczynski.
The coaches decided on a playoff, sending the six golfers back to
the 125-yard second hole.
“It’s the first time I can recall having a playoff to determine
either the A or the B Flight winner in the scramble,” said Onekama
coach Mary Jo Zadow. “I don’t think we ever had a tie in the past.”
Both Kimpel and Luomala stuck shots within five feet, resulting in
birdies and another walk back to the second tee. After matching
pars, and another hike, Kimpel nearly made an ace and the eventual
birdie was enough to secure the win on the third playoff hole.
“I’m very happy,” said Kimpel, who has been a part of the B Flight
winners two years in a row.
The low round of the afternoon was
MCC’s A Flight team of Zach Smith, Zack Bialik and Nick Kolanowski.
All three finished in the top 10 of the 18-hole match on Tuesday.
“We mess around and have fun, but there’s still goals,” Bialik said
of the scramble. “The goal was 29 today, but we missed a lot of
putts.”
