WHAC Championships Ahead for Men’s Golf This Week

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DETROIT — It all comes down to this. The Marygrove men’s golf team, led by head coach Frank McAuliffe and assistant coach Ronnie Pollack, Jr., will visit Fort Wayne, Ind. this week to take part in the 2015 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Championships. The two-day, 54-hole championship event will be played at Coyote Creek Golf Club in Fort Wayne as the Mustangs prepare to take on the rest of the conference field at this year’s championship event.

The foursome of Michael Kanalas, Tyler Newell, Jimmy Stewart and Austin Valentine will take to the Coyote Creek course Thursday (April 16) beginning at 8:30 a.m. as they attempt to climb the WHAC ladder. Day one action will bring 36 holes of tournament golf while Friday’s (April 17) final round will feature the final 18 of the 54-hole championship.

Weather could play a factor Thursday as the Fort Wayne forecast calls for an 60-percent chance of rain as of Tuesday (April 14).

Coyote Creek, a course Kanalas played prior to his time at Marygrove, is a 6,978-yard, par 72 track that features a vast array of undulation on the greens and other challenges throughout for the collegiate golfer. Kanalas, a sophomore, is looking for a repeat of last year’s WHAC Championship performance in Grand Rapids that resulted in the then-freshman to post a championship round of 80 (+9). Kanalas’ career low round is 76, shot in the WHAC’s third jamboree of the fall season on Oct. 6, 2014.

Fellow sophomores Newell and Stewart will look to conquer the long first day by building off of their recent experience at 36-hole events. In the fall, Newell showcased his ability to dominate a course by coming back from a career-high round to post a new career low over the final 18 at Lawrence Tech’s Fall Invite on Sep. 22, 2014. Newell shaved 20 strokes off of his score from the first-18 to the latter, posting a final round 80 (+8) at Southfield’s Plum Hollow Country Club.

Stewart was the low man for the Mustangs during the last 36-hole outing, tallying a two-round total of 170. The former men’s basketball sharpshooter zeroed in on the greens en route to posting an 86 in round one and an 84 over the final 18 to walk into the clubhouse with a 170.

The WHAC Championships will mark the fourth collegiate event for Valentine, the newest addition to the Mustangs’ continually-growing roster. Valentine has shown marked improvement over his first three outings, shaving his score each time he has hit the course. The full-time Marygrove men’s soccer student-athlete shot a 105 in his collegiate debut and later followed that up with a 93 and 91 over the next two rounds, respectively.

A full recap of each day’s action from the WHAC Championships will be posted on marygrovemustangs.com once results are made official.

GOLF CONTACT: Tim Johnston | [email protected]/* */ | @tjohnston56
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