WILSON — Half of the field will be newcomers in the third Island Resort Collegiate golf tournament at Sage Run Golf Course Labor Day weekend.
Newcomers include Valparaiso, Illinois State, Miami of Ohio, Toledo, North Dakota State and Southern Illinois. Liberty won the initial IRC in 2019, and Michigan State, which is not returning, won last year’s tournament by a whopping 23 strokes over the University of Central Florida.
The 12-team NCAA Division I field will be completed by 2021 third-place University of Michigan, fifth-place University of Kentucky, tournament host South Dakota State, which finished sixth last year, along with Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bowling Green, and Northern Michigan University, the only D-2 entrant.
Kentucky freshman Hunter Thomas, who tied for 39th here last year, was the only Wildcat to start all 11 events in 2021-22. Kentucky, which may be the tourney favorite with seven returnees, is led by Garrett Wood’s 71.55 average. Southpaw teammate Alex Goff averaged 71.97 last season, and Campbell Kremer averaged 72.89.
Tournament officials are looking for volunteers to handle a variety of positions at the tournament. They can contact Dave Douglas (906-723-2250) to assist in taking spectators to different holes, spotting and scorekeeping.
There is no charge for spectators to attend the tournament Sept. 4-5. The teams will practice on the challenging course Sept. 3.
Among the contestants will be two South Dakota State golfers who have played the course frequently, sophomore Tyler Kretz of Marinette and freshman Bryson Mercier of Powers. Mercier finished fourth in the recent UP Golf Association men’s tournament after finishing second last year. Mercier is one of four freshmen on SDSU’s team.
Mercier said he was disappointed with his closing round at the recent UPGA, noting he had 15 pars and a bogey. “I really thought I had a chance to win,” he said recently before a class at SDSU. He said Iron Mountain Pine Grove was a really fair test. “I played better than my score showed. This is something to learn from. Everybody fails at golf.”
Mercier said he has been bonding with the other frosh golfers and is looking forward to qualifying for the Jackrabbits. “I’ve gotten to know the whole team. Everybody is fitting in.” he said.
His goal is to enjoy school “and qualify (for events) and be competitive and take it as it goes.” Every member of the team will come to Sage Run.
SDSU’s connection to this tournament came via VanDamme, a Perkins native who spent seven years as SDSU’s men’s and women’s coach and is now women’s golf coach at Kent State University. The Kent State women won their 23rd straight Mid-American Conference title recently.
Mercier, who was recruited to SDSU by VanDamme, learned VanDamme was leaving SDSU during the 2021 UPGA tourney at Escanaba Country Club. “It was a pretty good shock to the system. (But) I felt good for him, it is a great opportunity for him,” he said.
VanDamme became head coach at Kent State just before last year’s IRC and was replaced on an interim basis by Manistique native Mike Nagy. Parker Eden has since replaced Nagy at SDSU. Eden had been coaching at Colorado State.
Eden said VanDamme “jumped in and helped out” to put this third tourney together. “He was very helpful. This tournament is very important to him. It could have been a lot more stressful” without his assistance, Eden said.
Eden, whose first day at SDSU was Aug. 22, said a couple of past entrants opted out of this year’s tournament to participate in a world amateur event.
“This should be a great event. It will be pretty competitive for the teams, and there are some really good individuals,” Eden said. “It is a really awesome opportunity for our guys to play. I’ve heard a lot of great things about the golf course.”
Sage Run, which opened in 2018, was recently ranked 20th among state golf courses. Its nearby big sister, Sweetgrass Golf Club, is ranked 10th. Sweetgrass was named national golf course of the year in January.
MSU’s James Piot, who won the US Amateur in 2021 and now plays on the new LIV Tour, was the original medalist at the IRC with a 207. Last year, he shared honors with MSU teammate Troy Taylor II at 209.
“If we play the way we can, we will have our nose in it,” Eden said, giving a vote of confidence to players he just met. “This will be a good challenge. I’m looking forward to getting there.
“The first couple of weeks I’ll see where we are at, research the guys and see what we can do, and see what our weaknesses are.”
Sage Run, which has received extensive play this season, has grown in impressively. Island Resort general manager Tony Mancilla tries to play there 3-4 times a week and expects the many newcomers to quickly get a good feel for the course in their practice rounds.
He said the “primary rough is thick” and the uphill par four eighth hole is driveable for the bombs away college golfers while No. 9 “is a great par five with a two-tier green, No. 3 is a birdie hole.”
He said a key to scoring at Sage Run is “hit the right line” off the tee. A key on the par five 12th hole is “playing up the left side.” Fifteen plays into the wind (off an elevated tee). No. 4 is a sneaky hole.
“There are a lot of nuances to the course. The greens are firm and play fast. There are a lot of tough holes out there,” he said of a hilly course which has a unique character and feel.
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