Leland started its season with a second-place finish at the first Northwest Conference of the season at Leland Country Club on Monday.
Leland hosts another match at their practice course, Leland Country Club, on May 7.
The Comets finished with a five-person score of 166. Leland’s Hayden Vansteenhouse finished second with a score of 36. Leland senior Liam Waskiewicz boosted the Comets to defeat Onekama, Frankfort, Benzie, and Brethren.
“It’s very exciting. Guys are really focused this year, so it’s fun to see,” Leland coach Paul Bardenhagen said. “Most guys would agree we want to win the conference,” Bardenhagen said.
The Comets made states last year and have expectations to achieve that again.
Leland placed 18th at the state championships with a team score of 793. During the state tournament, Waskiewicz led the Comets along with Colby Connor, Hayden Vansteenhouse, Howie Kropp, and Max Waldrup.
All of these golfers are back again with high expectations.
“We’re a very consistent team, so we don’t have a lot of people that vary in scores a lot, which is really good, and that definitely helps our top six.” Waldrup said. “That keeps us in the mix pretty well, and we got a couple of new guys who are also pretty good, so it’ll be looking good for the next few years to come, too,” Waldrup said.
Although the Comets didn’t win on Monday, Leland is working to get them to their full potential and fix their mistakes.
“I feel we definitely didn’t play to our full ability, and obviously the weather played into that, but I think there were some good moments. Hopefully we will be able to carry that into our next matches,” Waskiewicz said.
Some of the Comets’ goals are to compete in every tournament and compete for conference and regional championships this Spring.
“Our goals are at least the same as last year to make the states. Hopefully, we’re gonna come first and regionals and place better than last time in states,” Connor said.
For seniors Connor, Waldrup, Waskiewicz, and Brady Keen, their favorite thing about golf is competing and having fun with friends, especially because they have shared time on the soccer field and basketball court.
