North’s Schwenk is medalist, US reigns as team at Punderson

High school athletic competition occurred in Ohio for the first time since March when golf season began Aug. 5.

A handful of area teams convened at Punderson Golf Club in Newbury, where Eastlake North’s Tyler Schwenk carded a 77 to place first among individuals. Next to taking a victory back to Eastlake, Schwenk was happy to return to the course.

“It felt great,” Schwenk said. “We didn’t know if we were even going to have a season at the beginning of all this coronavirus stuff. It was really great to get out there and play. I know our team was really happy to be playing out there, I know I was, it was super refreshing.”

The Rangers finished fifth in the team standings. University recorded a team score of 327 to win the team title after the Preppers took first at Punderson last year.

Schwenk said his consistency keyed his strong performance. A soft course allowed him to attack pins after he kept his drives in the fairway.

“I felt really good out there,” Schwenk said. “I haven’t been able to put together a good round in competitive golf in a pretty long time. It felt really good, it was a big confidence booster. I was able to hit 12 of 14 fairways out there, I just felt great.”

Ian Sullivan paced University with a 79 to place second individually. He said his accuracy off the tee allowed him to deliver a solid round.

Tom Vrablic shot an 81, Drew Torzok carded an 82 and Dave Weinberger shot an 85 as the Preppers won by 22 strokes.

“We felt pretty strongly in the tournament knowing we won it last year,” Sullivan said. “We were going into it knowing there was going to be some schools that could compete. Most of all, we were mostly psyched knowing we all played some of our best rounds in awhile.”

Kenston placed second at its home event with a team score of 349. Mayfield combined to shoot a 365 to place third.

Will Pollack placed third individually, recording an 80 for the Bombers. Pollack, who lost his spring baseball season due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, recorded the lowest score of his golf career Aug. 5.

Pollack putted well and a birdie on the eighth hole, the toughest on the course, highlighted his round.

“Everyone played pretty solid today on our squad,” Pollack said. “A few people shot in the 80s, a few in the 90s, it was good to come in second place. We all were very happy with it.”