Area contingent makes early exit at Pine Hills

HINCKLEY >> Golfers have a keen sense for acceptance phase and when to exit the stage.

Unfortunately for The Morning Journal coverage area contingent Oct. 7 in the Division I Pine Hills District boys golf tournament, that exit came early.

In a year brutally competitive even for the perennial Pine Hills standard, all area golfers departed well before the final scores began rolling in mid-afternoon, with the realization their fall campaign had concluded.

Low-score honors from the area went to Amherst’s Jacob Fitzpatrick and Avon Lake’s Tyler Madden, who each carded a round of 78.

Fitzpatrick, in his second straight district appearance, recorded a 37 on the back nine, featuring seven straight pars. He overcame a three-bogey stretch on the holes Nos. 1, 2 and 3 to birdie 5 and 6.

The Comets senior shot a 90 last year at Pine Hills.

Madden, a senior who had a 76 at the D-I Sweetbriar Sectional, went for a 37 on the front and 41 on the back. He notched birdies on 2, 14 and 17 but triple-bogeyed the par-4 18th.

The Avon duo of sophomores Nolan King and Jack Gerborg had rounds of 83 and 82, respectively.

Westlake, which put up a 323 to take sectional team runner-up honors at Sweetbriar, concluded their season with a 344. Sophomore Will Fankhouser, the lone non-senior in the Demons’ lineup, led the charge with an 83.

Team qualifiers to state out of Pine Hills were St. Ignatius (290), Akron Hoban (300), Walsh Jesuit (306) and Brunswick (308). Wildcats senior Andrew Kaye was district medalist with a 67.

Individual qualifiers for next weekend’s D-I state tournament were Green’s Maxwell Moldovan (69), Uniontown Lake’s Alex Anderson (70), Canton GlenOak’s Brandon Jatich (71) and Strongsville’s Michael Lee (72), who won a playoff for the final spot.