The Northern Michigan University men’s golf team made a rousing comeback in the second qualifying round on Saturday to finish in eighth place at the GLIAC Championships held in Battle Creek. From left are Walter Ylitalo, Kyle Maki, Arthur Ylitalo, Tyler Annala, Russel Sprecher, Levin Pennala and head coach Ben Johnson. (Photo courtesy NMU)

BATTLE CREEK — If only the first round had been practice and the second round was what counted, the Northern Michigan University men’s golf team could’ve advanced to match play at the GLIAC Championships downstate over the weekend.

As it was, both rounds counted as the Wildcats finished eighth out of 10 teams to miss the four-team cut to match play.

NMU was ninth-best in Friday’s opening round, finishing at 15-over-par and standing 15 strokes out of fourth place that day, posted by Saginaw Valley State at even par.

That’s not too bad for a team that didn’t get any help from the spring weather, not just in its northern home, but when meets came along further south as two of the four on their spring schedule were canceled. Needless to say, there was also little time to practice in the Marquette area with the late onset of warmer weather here.

However, Northern caught fire in Saturday’s second round of stroke play, posting the fourth-best score among the 10 teams in attendance at 4-over-par at Bedford Valley Golf Club just outside downstate Battle Creek.

Compare that to top qualifying team Ferris State, which shot 8-under Saturday after 1-over Friday for a 7-under total.

In second place on Saturday was Grand Valley State at even par, then SVSU at 2-over with NMU next.

Fifth-best on Saturday was Roosevelt, just one stroke behind the Wildcats at 5-over, with most of the rest of the field bunched up behind them — Wayne State was 6-over, Davenport 7-over, Wisconsin-Parkside 8-over, Purdue Northwest 9-over and Lake Superior State bringing up the rear at 18-over.

For the two days in total, Ferris’ 7-under was almost matched by GVSU at 5-under after the Lakers shot that same 5-under on Friday.

A more distant third were Wayne State and SVSU tied at 2-over to take the final match-play spots. The top four qualifiers are all nationally ranked between No. 9 and No. 66.

First outside the qualifying was Roosevelt, just two strokes behind at 4-over, followed by Davenport at 8-over, Parkside 9-over and then NMU at 19-over. Purdue NW trailed Northern at 28-over, while LSSU was just one stroke worse at 29-over.

The Wildcats’ star on Saturday was senior Walter Ylitalo, who moved up 19 spots from his place on Friday thanks to a second-round 2-under par 70, the third biggest jump in the field.

Ylitalo joined his teammates by starting on the back nine on Saturday, carding a modest 3-over 39, including pars on the 17th and 18th holes.

Making the turn, he really caught fire, carding a 5-under 31 on the front nine with five birdies and four pars, birdieing Nos. 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8. Those birdie holes included two par-3s, two par-4s and a par-5.

He joined his brother and NMU sophomore Arthur Ylitalo with the Wildcats’ most birdies with six over the two days.

Arthur Ylitalo had Northern’s best overall score, however, tying for 16th place at 2-over 146 on rounds of 74 and 72. He rose nine places in the standings after posting NMU’s best score Friday.

Walter Ylitalo and fellow Northern senior Russel Sprecher tied for 27th at 5-over 149, Ylitalo posting 79 and 70, while Sprecher had 75 and 74, the latter moving up three spots on day 2.

NMU junior and Westwood High School graduate Tyler Annala tied for 38th at 7-over 151 on rounds of 75 and 76, while senior Kyle Maki came on to sub Saturday for freshman teammate Levi Pennala.

Maki shot a 12-over 84 Saturday after Pennala had the same 12-over 84 on Friday.

Arthur Ylitalo’s scorecard showed a checkerboard on the front nine Friday — two birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey — before settling in with a single birdie and bogey on the back nine for 74.

Saturday included a four-hole stretch on the opening back nine of birdie-par-bogey-birdie with pars elsewhere, then a streak of bogey-birdie-bogey on the front nine with every other hole a par for even-par 72.

Walter Ylitalo’s opening round, 79, had a single birdie with eight bogeys sprinkled throughout as he never had more than two bogeys in a row.

Sprecher’s opening 75 included back-to-back birdies on the front nine with five bogeys throughout, then his 74 on Saturday had four bogeys on his first six holes before he punched in two birdies without a bogey on the front nine.

Annala, with 75 on Friday, included four bogeys spread around his card with a birdie on the par-4 18th hole. Then his 76 on Saturday including a single bogey with eight pars on the first nine, before a birdie and four bogeys jumped up on the second nine.

Pennala’s Friday round of 84 included a birdie on the par-5 seventh hole, eight bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey.

Maki’s Saturday round of 84 also had a birdie on the seventh to go with seven bogeys and three double-bogeys, his birdie coming one hole after a double-bogey.

For the two days, the Wildcats played the par-3s at 13-over, which was 10th in the field, the par-4s at 33-over (eighth), and the par-5s at 3-under (ninth). NMU tied for eighth with 20 birdies and with 104 pars, led the field with 50 bogeys, and had the fourth-most double-bogeys or worse with six.

In qualifying, the individual winner was SVSU’s Shea Harmeson with an 8-under 136 on rounds of 70 and 66, while Grand Valley’s Manuel Cue was runner-up, just one stroke back at 7-under 137 on 68 and 69. Roosevelt’s Pierre Heylen was third, one more stroke back at 6-under 138 with a pair of 69s.

The full leaderboard and other statistics from the tourneys are available online at https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/236275/scoring/player.

In the team match play on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, SVSU defeated Ferris State 3 1/2-1 1/2 and Wayne State edged GVSU 3-2 in the semifinals, with the Warriors winning the league title with a 4-1 victory in the finals over the Cardinals, 4-1.

Individual team members were paired off in medal play for these matches.

In the championship match, WSU’s Ian Smith and Tyler Hurtubise had the biggest wins, both 5-up, with Smith defeating SVSU’s Joey Per and Hurtubise taking out the Cardinals’ Jiseung Choi.

The Warriors’ Max Leppelmeier won 4-up over the Cards’ Evan Klein and WSU’s Luc Warnock downed the qualifying medalist, Harmeson, 3-up.

Saginaw Valley’s lone victory was posted by Thomas Keyte, 2-up over WSU’s Josh DiCarlo.

The online link to match play is at https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/236276/scoring/team?utm_medium=sidearm-email&utm_source=nmuwildcats.com&utm_campaign=Ylitalo+Makes+Waves+in+Round+Two+of+GLIAC+Championships&utm_content=277a7440-77bc-42bb-ab8e-2b8ba5674a34.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.