By Roy J. Akers
Watching the final round among the leaders showed that pressure was a factor among the boys and girls but in the end, players with experience winning these top amateur tournaments repelled all comers.
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Cade Breitenstien (Kent State commit) knows what it takes to win at Forest Lake as defending champion and he said that during his first round 65 that he and Maxwell Moldovan fed off each others low scores and each golfer tried to top the other in round one. Moldovan’s 9-under 62 is the Forest Lake course record but one thing was different in this final day. Moldovan is a class of 2020 player and is not committed to anyone at press time.
The final day saw Moldovan’s lead slip from two at the beginning of the round to a change of the leaderboard down the stretch as the birdies plentiful the first two days disappeared and Breitenstien carded a final round of 70 to Moldovan’s 73 to take home medalist honors.
Plenty of impressive golf was played by the boys. Noah Gillard (Illinois commit) carded a six-under total of 207 for fourth place. Kelvin Lim of Lake Mary Florida put together a final round of 72 to go with his 69-65 for a seven-under score. Patrick Kelly (Notre Dame commit) had the low boys round of 66 on day three and finished six-under. In all, 17 boys finished at par or better.
| Cade Breitenstien on his repeat win<<< Video Alexandra Swayne goes out a winner at Forest Lake CC <<<Video |
| Schulz- Swayne and Dy are on the podium |
For the girls, Alexandra Swayne (Clemson commit) who showed nerves of steel down the stretch and outlasted Mikaela Schulz (Michigan commit) of Bloomfield Hills trading clutch shots and draining putts with the pressure on the line. Payne entered the day with rounds of 70-72 and nearly coughed up her three shot lead but on 17, after driving it into a hill about 30 feet below the green, she chipped twice up the steep hill and left herself with 20 feet to salvage a bogey and most certainly giving her a five. Schulz stared the putt down and drained it. Schulz made a six-foot par and it and the 18th is a long hole with an uphill green and a sloping green. Schulz birdie attempt was about 20 feet down the hill and she hit the jar solidly as a miss and the putt would have certainly rolled down the fierce slope. Payne left herself with about a 15′ putt and she ended the drama with a par and a well-deserved fist pump and the win.
Schulz played extremely well down the stretch and she will enter the AJGA Randy Wise tournament in Linden in two weeks. Her future UM teammate Anika Dy finished third overtaking (73-74-74) Taylor Kehoe of Strathroy, Ontario who faded to a final day 78 but her first two rounds of 70-74 were good enough to be in the final pairing.
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