Jun. 12—EAST LANSING — Just one shot stands between Murphy Kehoe and the Division 1 state finals lead.
Kehoe, a senior at Traverse City West, shot a 2-under 70 in Friday’s opening round of the state finals at Forest Akers West on the campus of Michigan State University. He’s tied with two other golfers one shot back of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern junior Jack Zubkus.
As a team, the Titans are sixth, 17 shots behind leader Ann Arbor Skyline and tied with Rochester Adams. Traverse City Central lurks nine shots back in a 10th-place tie with Portage Northern and Troy Athens.
“I was really pleased,” West coach Mike Schultz said. “It wasn’t our lowest score of the year, but we really only had one player in Murphy Kehoe with any state finals experience.”
Tyler Frechette shot a career-low round of 75 to end the day tied for 24th in the field of 113. He carded birdies on two par-3s and eagled the 520-yard par-5 No. 17.
Steve Gourlay shot 80, Bodie Wilson 84 and Andrew Schugart 88 for the Titans.
Michael Beattie led TC Central with a 77, tied for 37th. Zach Galan shot 78, Shea Harmeson 81, Carson Peters 82 and Cam Peters 89.
Saturday’s second round starts with a 9 a.m. shotgun start on the same course with different pin placements. If West can maintain its pace, it’d be the highest Titans state finals finish since a fifth-place result in 2012.
DIVISION 4
Charlevoix and Glen Lake both landed in the top five at the D-4 finals at The Fortress in Frankenmuth.
The Rayders ended up 53-over as a team, 20 shots behind leader Kalamazoo Hackett, with Lansing Christian trailing the Irish by four shots. Kalamazoo Christian is tied with Charlevoix for third.
The Lakers are 61-over, with a seven-shot lead on sixth-place Hillsdale Academy.
Jake Beaudoin led the Rayders with a 5-over 77 to sit in a tie for seventh, followed by Hudson Vollmer (82), Sam Pletcher (85) and Henry Herzog (97). Beaudoin trails overall leader Remy Stalcup of Clarkston Everest by seven strokes.
Blake O’Connor paced Glen Lake with a 10-over 82, with Gray Raymond (86), Jackson Zywicki (89) and Tucker Ewing (92) the other counters.
Leland senior Aiden Coleman shot an 82, tied with O’Connor and Vollmer for 18th place. Manistee Catholic junior Alex Shriver carded an 86 (31st) and Gaylord St. Mary senior Tristan Glasby shot 93 (56th).
DIVISION 2
Gaylord’s Kole Putnam sits in a tie for 10th place after a 2-over opening round at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek.
He’s seven strokes behind first-round leader Brockton English of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep. Putnam birdied the second hole and carded 15 pars.
DIVISION 3
Elk Rapids is tied with Saginaw Swan Valley for ninth place, with Boyne City five shots back in 11th at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central leads at plus-18, with the Elks 30 shots off that and the Ramblers 35 back.
Josh Lavely carded a 2-over 74, birdieing the last hole and notching an eagle on the par-5 No. 1 to go into Saturday’s second round in seventh place.
Preston Ball shot 82, Mitch Emke 89 and Spencer Ball 91.
Alec Sherman-Brown and Kolton Stadt led Boyne with 82s, with Aidan Brehm shooting 85 and Nic Santina 92.
Preston Ball, Sherman-Brown and Stadt are all tied for 29th overall, with Cheboygan’s P.J. Maybank leading Grosse Ile’s Anthony Naso and Laingsburg’s Zach Koerner by four shots at 6-under.
Traverse City St. Francis’ Tommy Puetz, who qualified as an individual, shot an opening-round 83, tied for 35th.
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