Brighton golfer shakes off double bogey to shoot season low in KLAA tournament
BRIGHTON — A previous version of Andrew Daily might have let one bad hole ruin the great round of golf he was playing up until that point.
Daily, a junior, was playing the best round of his Brighton career, completing 13 holes at 4-under-par when he stepped up to the No. 10 tee Thursday at Kensington Metropark Golf Course.
Daily, along with both playing partners, sent his tee shot into the thick weeds on the left side of the fairway. Howell’s Ethan Satterly was able to find his ball and play it from the rough stuff, but Daily and Novi’s Harshan Juttu had to take drops after extensive searches by multiple people for the lost balls.
After taking the one-stroke penalty, Daily made a double bogey on the par-4 hole to put a dent into his round, but not his psyche.
Bouncing back with a birdie on the next hole, Daily finished with a season-low 72 in the KLAA postseason tournament to tie teammate Matt Doyle for second place. Canton senior Alex Mei was the medalist with a 2-under-par 70.
“I just realized that I’m still in it,” Daily said. “I was still 1- or 2-under at that point. I just didn’t get down on myself. I stayed confident. I got a birdie on the next hole, just stayed in it.”
Daily shook his head when asked if he’s always had that ability to put a bad shot behind him.
“I’ve changed that this year,” he said. “It’s been tough. I was at the Michigan Am qualifier the other day. I think I had a triple on the third hole, then I brought it back together. I did better, then finished rough. From that round, I learned a lot to fight back.”
After shooting 77 in the preseason KLAA tournament, Daily’s total of 149 ranked third in the league behind Mei (146) and Northville senior Jack Thallman (147). Daily lowered his average to 78.6.
“You take Andrew from the start of the year to now, it’s a completely different player,” Brighton coach James Dewling said. “He truly understands what’s going on on the golf course. You can see it in his numbers. You can see he’s starting to build a little confidence, too.
“We’re trying to help him understand he is a really good player. He’s no longer a golfer; he’s a player. He’s really come along. He’s making a lot of birdies now. He’s really coming into his own as a player. It’s really exciting to watch. Good things are on the way for him.”
A 72 was also the low round of the season for Doyle, who shot 81 to tie for 26th in the preseason tournament.
“I was just hitting my drive pretty good, just cozying up on the middle of the green,” Doyle said. “I was two-putting, and sometimes the birdies fell. It was great. It was fun. The team, it was electric out there. It was a good time. I knew my teammates were going to play well today. I was confident in them.”
Led by Daily and Doyle, Brighton finished second in Thursday’s event with a 299, two strokes behind Northville. Howell was third with a 311, Novi fourth with a 313 and Hartland fifth with a 316.
Combining both 12-team tournaments, Northville was first with a 604, Brighton second with a 612, Howell third with a 625 and Hartland fourth with a 627.
Brighton entered the day six shots behind Northville after placing fourth in the preseason event with a 313.
“We didn’t play our best at pre, which put a lot of pressure on the post KLAA,” Dewling said. “I’m really proud of our guys and the way they handled themselves with a little bit of pressure today, knowing they had to make up shots.”
Riley Morton tied for sixth with a 74 and Levi Pennala tied for 33rd with an 81 to complete Brighton’s scoring.
Howell senior Brendan Toth tied for fourth with a 73 to finish tied for sixth with a 152 for the combined tournaments.
“I had a few tournaments in the low 80s and high 70s,” said Toth, who lowered his average to 78.5. “I just wanted to get down to the low 70s. I’m glad I did it today.”
Satterly and freshman Zach Spencer of Howell tied for 16th with 78s.
Leading Hartland were Cole Gumiela with a 77 and Ryan Bohlen with a 79.
KLAA postseason golf tournament
Team scoring: 1. Northville 297; 2. Brighton 299; 3. Howell 311; 4. Novi 313; 5. Hartland 316; 6. Livonia Stevenson and Canton 317; 8. Livonia Franklin 320; 9. Salem 323; 10. Plymouth 328; 11. Livonia Churchill 344; 12. Westland John Glenn 364; Belleville and Dearborn incomplete teams.
Top individuals: Alex Mei (Canton) 70; Andrew Daily (Brighton) 72; Matt Doyle (Brighton) 72; Brendan Toth (Howell) 73; Jack Thallman (Northville) 73; Riley Morton (Brighton) 74; Ryan Gallagher (Northville) 74; Mason Sokolowski (Northville) 75; Greg Braun (Northville) 75; MJ Orlowski (Franklin) 75.
Combined tournament scores: 1. Northville 604; 2. Brighton 612; 3. Howell 625; 4. Hartland 627; 5. Novi 630; 6. Livonia Stevenson 635; 7. Canton 638; 8. Plymouth 640; 9. Livonia Franklin 657; 10. Salem 662; 11. Livonia Churchill 702; 12. Westland John Glenn 766; Belleville and Dearborn incomplete teams.
Combined individual scores: Alex Mei (Canton) 146; Jack Thallman (Northville) 147; Andrew Daily (Brighton) 149; Greg Braun (Northville) 150; Gowtham Nalluri (Novi) 150; MJ Orlowski (Franklin) 152; Brendan Toth (Howell) 152; Evan Westphal (Stevenson) 152; Matt Doyle (Brighton) 153; Riley Morton (Brighton) 153; Zach Spencer (Howell) 153.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton golfer shakes off double bogey to shoot season low in KLAA tourney
