DCC Closes Perfect Spring with Repeat
June 11, 2016
By Paul Morgan
Special for Second Half
ALLENDALE – Even though Detroit Catholic Central led after Friday’s first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 1 golf tournament, coach Mike Anderson knew things weren’t just right.
‘’On the drive up and during breakfast on Friday morning the guys were very quiet,’’ Anderson said. ‘’Today, it was back to normal, having fun.’’
Ben Smith was the Shamrocks’ poster child for quiet-Friday, fun-Saturday. The junior shot a 6-over par 78 for the first round, but came back for a 2-under 70 on Saturday to help DCC repeat as MHSAA champion.
The Shamrocks shot 299-298 – 597 for the two-day tournament, held at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University. Grosse Pointe South was second with rounds of 302-303 – 605.
Battle Creek Lakeview’s Andrew Walker won a one-hole playoff over Plymouth’s Jack Boczar to take medalist honors. Each shot a 143. The championship was Walker's second straight.
Smith and junior James Piot (71-77 – 148) have been the leaders on Catholic Central’s team, according to Anderson.
‘’As it turned out James had a good first day and Ben had a good second day, so it worked out pretty well,’’ the coach said.
The turnaround for Smith was pretty simple.
‘’Today, I think I missed like two fairways and Friday I think I hit only two fairways,’’ Smith said. ‘’On the first day, it wasn’t really nerves, but I just wasn’t hitting it well and I couldn’t find the fairway, which leads to problems on this course.
‘’Overall, I played really well, but I left a few shots out there. I three-putted twice for par and missed a couple of short ones, but that’s going to happen.’’
Three holes on the back nine were crucial for Smith and his teammates. The junior double-bogeyed the par-3 13th hole, but came back with a birdie on the par-5 14th and then drained a long putt on the par-4 15th for a par.
‘’After making the double bogey, I used that to motivate me to play better,’’ he said. ‘’Luckily, I had that short par five and it’s a birdie hole.
‘’I was thinking to hit a drive out there, put it on in two and either get an eagle or birdie, which is what I did.’’
Added Anderson: ‘’Ben’s played well all year and Friday was his worst round of the season.’’
Also in the top five for Catholic Central was senior Max Palmer (75-75 – 150), junior Sean Niles (75-76 – 151) and junior Sean Sooch (79-83 – 162). Anderson is all smiles when thinking about next year and having to replace just one player.
‘’They didn’t lose an event all year,’’ Anderson said. ‘’All the boys on our team are going to play college golf and they have bright futures.’’
That goes all the way to Catholic Central’s ninth golfer.
‘’My sixth-through-nine golfers could make anyone’s top five,’’ he said. ‘’They will probably play college golf and they can’t make their high school top-five.’’
The all-smiles thing can be said about Grosse Pointe South coach Doug Roby, who isn’t losing a player off his top five. The Blue Devils’ scores were junior Oliver Livingston (71-74 – 145), sophomore Evan Theros (73-75 – 148), junior John Schoof (80-75 – 155), freshman Coalter Smith (78-79 – 157) and sophomore Patrick Sullivan (82-82 – 164).
‘’The kids played well both days,’’ Roby said. ‘’Friday night, we reviewed where we potentially gave away some strokes and it was in the last four holes.
‘’One of the things with this team is our play in that stretch. We just came up short today.’’
Actually, it was most of Catholic Central’s players getting off to hot starts, which put Grosse Pointe South in a position of playing catch-up all day. As a team, the Shamrocks had a seven-stroke lead over the Blue Devils after six holes.
‘’We talked about continuing to do the same things we’ve done all year,’’ Anderson said about the Saturday pep talk. ‘’We have to play our game, which is hitting greens and fairways, making good decisions and taking the double bogey out of play.’’
In doing so, the Shamrocks won the school’s fourth MHSAA golf championship in the past 13 years.
After DCC and Grosse Pointe South, the rest of the team scoring was Grand Blanc 617, Warren DeLaSalle 618, Midland 620, Battle Creek Lakeview 622, Detroit U-D Jesuit 624, Plymouth 630, Bloomfield Hills 632, Ann Arbor Skyline 637, Grand Ledge 641, Northville 650, Rochester Adams 655, Birmingham Brother Rice 657 and Rockford 669.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central clinched its second straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 title. (Middle) Battle Creek Lakeview's Andrew Walker (right) shakes hands with Plymouth's Jack Boczar after winning a one-hole playoff for the individual medalist honor. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Mid Pen's VanDamme Finishes Finals Climb, Lake Linden-Hubbell Clinches 1st Team Title
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 28, 2026
WATERSMEET — Rock Mid Peninsula's Christian VanDamme is only a sophomore, yet he came into Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Final with two past runner-up finishes at this golf tournament.
He made the top five as a seventh grader before shooting an impressive 76 as an eighth grader to finish second behind his brother Bradly. Last year, he had a seven-hole lead going into the back nine, but couldn’t hold off Powers North Central’s Nathan Pipkorn.
“I’ve definitely been putting too much pressure on myself the last couple years,” VanDamme said. “So I just kind of played free today.”
It translated into a first-place finish this time, while carding a 75.
“It’s nice,” he said. “It’s a lot nicer than losing, I’ll tell you that.”
His coach, and mom, Earlene VanDamme was proud of the growth he showed.
“I think Christian’s come a long way in his mental game,” she said. “That was what his big focus was. We knew he had the skill. He just really needed to work on that mental game. So all season, we’ve watched him pull through on that, where if he has a bad shot, he can overcome it on the next one. And so to see him take it today really cemented that.”
That’s what hurt him last year – a bad hole that he couldn’t let go.
Now he has a U.P. title he doesn’t have to let go.
“He works really hard at his game,” Earlene said. “He loves the game. If he could live at the golf course, he would. I like to see kids have hard work pay off, and that’s what he has.”
He didn’t putt all that well at the Lac Vieux Desert Golf Course, but most everything else went fine.
“It’s nice playing this short of a course; you don’t have to hit much of a tee ball, I hit a lot of hybrids and three woods,” he said.
Big Bay de Noc’s Parker Pederson carded a 78 to finish second. Three players tied for third.
“Tyler is pretty level-headed on the course. Brady, a technical player, grinds it out. Lukas plays smooth and easy-going, and he hits putts.”
That’s how Lake Linden-Hubbell coach Brett Poissant describes the Lakes’ Axford triplets, who all golf differently, but equally well. The juniors all shot an 80 to tie for third individually and lead the Lakes to their first U.P. team title after finishing in second place the last two years.
“That’s just been our success, the last few years with them, they’re the driving force,” Poissant said. “They’re so consistent, and there’s definitely that sibling rivalry. They like to battle each other, and I think that’s part of the motivator for the team is they want to best each other and ultimately ended in a tie.”
Lake Linden-Hubbell’s other two golfers also finished among the top 10, Brayden Beaudette in a tie for sixth with an 81 and Bodie Fortin in 10th with an 84.
It’s no surprise then that they won comfortably, 321-354 over runner-up Big Bay de Noc. Ontonagon took third with Wakefield-Marenisco fourth and Bessemer fifth.
“It’s been the goal since those kids were freshmen, to win a U.P. title,” Poissant said. “They’ve really, really put it in their sights, and it all came together today. They shot really well.”
“It’s very cool. This is our first team title in school history,” Lukas Axford said. “We put a lot of work in this spring. We got a real tight-knit group of guys, and it’s amazing to see our hard work pay off.”
PHOTOS (Top) Rock Mid Peninsula's Christian VanDamme rips through an iron shot during Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Final. (Middle) Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Brady Axford follows a tee shot. (Photos by Jason Juno.)