SOUTH BEND – With the state line no longer an obstacle, the already rich Men’s Metro Golf Championship history could add some Michigan flavor to the winners’ roll of honor when the 99th.th issue ends July 30.
Meet Satchel Piercea 20-year-old former Edwardsburg High and current junior on the Michigan State men’s golf team who hails from Union, Mich., which surrounds US 12 about a 25-mile-or-so jaunt from Elbel Park Golf Course, the tournament’s first round site. The talented 6-foot, 190-pound left-hander, who was previously barred from the event because of his residency, looked comfortable on the muni northwest of downtown, making seven birdies in a four-under-par 68.
Start times:Tee times for the 99th Greater South Bend Men’s Metro Golf Championships
“The course is in really good shape,” Pierce said of the 6,890-yard Elbel Park, which played extremely long with its back tee markers and had some tricky pin placements on its huge greens. “They’ve got the greens rolling well and the fairways look nice. I played well, I played solid.”
Pierce will have a three-stroke lead over Mishawaka’s Austin Christner, who a few years ago played his high school golf at Fairfield High School. The 27-year-old Christner, who has finished fourth and fifth in the last two men’s Metros as a Mishawaka resident, was the only other golfer to shoot under par with his round of 71. That was two strokes better than South Bend’s Kyle Meihofer, another newcomer to the tournament. Another Men’s Metro rookie from Michigan, 34-year-old Khris Merrill of Niles, tied for fourth after a two-over 74 with 2021 champion Bazil Furry of Granger hoping to benefit from the knowledge of Knollwood East, his home court and today’s second round place.
Pierce, who was runner-up in the boys 10-11 division in the Drive, Chip and Putt competition at Augusta (Ga.) National prior to the 2015 Masters, is no stranger to Knollwood. He has played it a few more times than Elbel Park and he hopes the good vibes from his Saturday round will stay with him on Sunday.
“There was a lot of good with a little bit of bad today,” Pierce said of his round, which included three bogeys. “I birdied par 5s, which is the main thing I try to do every round. So I got four birdies there, which was great. I rolled it pretty well, although I missed a few short ones. But all in all a good putt.”
Tournament Director Tony Stearns added two new entry categories to bolster the Men’s Metro four flight field, which has seen its numbers drop. Any golfer who lived within a 25-mile radius of the 46601 zip code (downtown South Bend), including those in Michigan, was now eligible to compete, as were all past champions of the event who lived anywhere.
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The latter category allowed two-time champion Ben Szklarek, a former Penn and Notre Dame graduate who lives two miles from Wrigley Field, to be part of this year’s field. But Szklarek, who last year tied for second with Sean Egan two strokes behind champion (and former Penn teammate) Zach Hale, showed rust in his game, making a quadruple-bogey 8 on Elbel’s 16th.th and a triple-bogey 7 on Elbel’s third while shooting an 81 (tied for 17th). Hale, a left-hander who graduated from the University of Indianapolis in December, was tied for ninth with four others who shot five-over 77s, including left-hander Tyler Ham, another two-time champion.
Pierce, who missed his final two years of high school competition at Edwardsburg due to the COVID pandemic (2020) and lower back surgery (2021), averaged 74.33 strokes as a sophomore for Spartan coach Casey Lubahn. His short game on Saturday contributed to his low score.
“Getting inside 15 feet and leaving yourself with uphill putts is very important,” said Pierce, who hit a 9-iron to 15 feet en route to birdieing the par-5, 501-yard 11th.th hole. At the par-5, 527-yard 15thth, Pierce hit driver and 7-iron to the green and two-putted from 30 feet. A driver and wedge set up a 10-foot birdie on the par-4 16ththand he birdied the dogleg-left, par-4, 435-yard 18thth when he hit a pitching wedge to 20 feet. He made bogey on the 231-yard, par-3 13thth after a bad tee shot.
On Elbel’s front nine, Pierce bogeyed the par-4 first hole when he drove poorly and then hit his 3-iron approach off a tree stump to reach the green and two-putt. A two-putt birdie on the par-5 second hole preceded a bogey on No. 3. On the par-5, 528-yard sixth, Pierce followed a big drive with a 5-iron to the green and another two-putt birdie. His final birdie came at the 426-yard seventh, where a good drive and wedge left him with a 15-foot birdie putt.
Fortunately for the rest of the field, Pierce’s birdie attempts on the eighth and ninth holes did not fall.
Christner did most of his damage on the front after turning in a two-over 38 with three bogeys and a birdie. The former Indiana Wesleyan golfer bogeyed No. 1 to move to 3-over for his round, but then birdied Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 9 for an incoming three-under 33 and one-under 71.
Meihofer, like Christner, beat the 10th hole to start, but then birdied Nos. 11, 12, 14 and 15 to take the early tournament lead at three under through his first six holes. But a double bogey 6 on 18th brought Meihofer back to earth, and three bogeys on Nos. 1, 6 and 8 offset his birdie on No. 2 in his round of one-over 73.
Furry overcame a bogey on the par-5 11thth with birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 17, but a double bogey on 18.th hole sent him to his back nine holes in even par. Furry then made seven straight pars before finishing with back-to-back bogeys on 8 and 9 in his round of 74, which was matched by Merrill, who had two birdies and four bogeys in his round.
“The hiccup on my ninth hole (No. 18) where I hit it left was expensive,” said the 22-year-old Furry, who likes to fade the ball but hooked it off that tee and took an unplayable. “Then I tried to play the first few holes conservatively. I had short birdie putts at Nos. 5 and 6 and missed them. So I didn’t kill myself. You can’t win the tournament on the first day, but you can lose it. I’m right in there and I like Knollwood.”
So does Hahn, who knows he has to drive the ball better. “I definitely struggled,” said the 2018 Penn High graduate, whose three birdies couldn’t overcome six bogeys and a double bogey on the par-4 14th.th where he drove it badly. “I didn’t make any putts and my driver wasn’t very good.”
99th GREATER SOUTH BEND METRO MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
SOUTH BEND – Results after Saturday’s first round at the par-72 Elbel Park Golf Course:
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT (6,890 yards)
68 (-4): Satchel Pierce 35-33
71 (-1): Austin Christner 33-38
73 (+1): Kyle Meihofer 38-35
74 (+2): Chris Merrill 37-37, Baz Furry 38-36
75 (+3): Ryan Szklarek 36-39, Dan Tobin 38-37
76 (+4): Jonah Kumfer 36-40
77 (+5): Chris Shaw 38-39, Doug Fedore 39-38, Brandon Thomas 39-38, Tyler Ham 37-40, Zach Hale 37-40
78 (+6): David Counselor 41-37
79 (+7): Brandon Gerlach 39-40, John Stack 41-38
81 (+9): Justin Crook 39-42, Ben Szklarek 39-42
82 (+10): Zach Toul 41-41
83 (+11): Carter Goodson 41-42
84 (+12): Ryan Hahaj 44-40
88 (+16): Sam Dales 41-47, Stan Gebo 46-42
95 (+23): Tom Butler 45-50
96 (+24): Matthew Levine 50-46
WD: Nick Anglemeyer, Matt Harrell
ONE FLIGHT (6,441 yards)
76 (+4): Evan Smith 35-41
78 (+6): Andrew Kowalewski 39-39, Ryley Fitzsimmons 40-38
79 (+7): Jeff Oltmann’s 41-38
80 (+8): Jim Shaw 40-40, Kevin Kowalski 37-43
81 (+9): Alan Smith 41-40, Andrew Katona 40-41
82 (+10): Andy Vavul 39-33, Nick Adventure 42-40
84 (+12): Mark Colpaert 44-40, Tyler Huyvaert 38-46
85 (+13): Robert Rogers 43-42
86 (+14): Roger Sarasin Karr 42-44
93 (+21): Taylor Urbanski 46-47
B FLY (6,109 yards)
81 (+9): Andy Williams 42-39
82 (+10): Kevin Swartz 43-39
83 (+11): Craig Eggers 41-42
84 (+12): Eric Swaim 41-43
85 (+13): Jacob Padrnos 41-44, Michael Robinson 41-44
86 (+14): Carlos Loaiza 44-42, Nicholas Mark 42-44, Todd Plonski 42-44
87 (+15): Matt Potter 46-41
89 (+17): Matt Schiele 48-41
90 (+18): Pete Vavul 47-43, David Krizman 46-44, Carl Daniels 45-45
91 (+19): Nick Bishop 45-46
92 (+20): Don Bedock 47-45, Perry Richards 45-47, Kenny Bishop 45-47
93 (+21): Michael Schicker 45-48
96 (+24): George Trey 51-45, Jason Quimby 45-51
98 (+26): Matt McGraw 50-48
WD: James VanFleit
C FLY (6,109 yards)
86 (+14): Jeffrey Barouska 43-43
87 (+15): Scott Tafelski 43-44, Ricky Entzian 45-42
88 (+16): Joe Bradley 47-41
89 (+17): Mark Swaim 46-43, Gary May 46-43
90 (+18): David Fulcher 48-42, James Parker 46-44
91 (+19): Rich None 47-44
92 (+20): Bartolo Marquez 47-45, Brian Carver 45-57
93 (+21): Keith Hodgson 47-46
94 (+22): John Howard 47-47, Kevin Barry 51-43
95 (+23): Roger Moreno 47-48
96 (+24): Alexander Walters 49-47
99 (+27): Joseph Watters 54-45
100 (+28): Geoffrey Davidson 47-53
102 (+30): Donald Codden’s 48-54
105 (+33): Justin Budzinski 49-56
106 (+34): Jerry Barnette 51-55
113 (+41): Alex Sexton 64-49