North Michigan News

Senior Tyler Annala achieved a personal milestone at the Flyer Fall Intercollegiate in Lemont, Illinois, finishing as co-champion after 54 holes before falling in a playoff to take second place. This result marks the best finish of Annala’s career and only his second time placing in the top ten.

Annala began the third round with a two-round score of +2 but struggled early, shooting +7 on the first nine holes. He recovered by making four consecutive birdies on holes 15 through 18, regaining a share of the tournament lead. After a bogey on the par-four third hole, he responded with another birdie on the fourth, maintaining his position at the top with one hole left. A par on the final hole led to a three-way playoff, where Annala ultimately finished second after the second playoff hole.

Annala recorded 10 birdies over 54 holes, which is the fourth-most in program history. His total score of 221 across three rounds is also notable, ranking as the tenth-best in program history and surpassing his previous best by one stroke.

Head coach Ben Johnson commented on Annala's performance: "Tyler played incredible, he showed so much resiliency so much fight," Johnson said. "He grinded it out today. After a poor start, he managed to scramble four birdies together and finish really strong to force a playoff. He did exactly what you needed to do; he didn't show any nerves and played smart. He just got beat on a good putt. I couldn't be prouder of him. He's such a good player and such a good kid. He deserved to win, just came up short, but played outstanding golf."

Other members of the Northern Michigan Wildcats men’s golf team included Levi Pennala (+26, T44), Brady Badker (+27, T46), and Arthur Ylitalo (+28, T48). Ylitalo had the second-best third-round score among the trio at +6 with birdies on two holes, while Badker and Pennala both finished their third rounds with scores of +11. Harvey Ylitalo completed the Wildcats lineup with a third-round score of +12 (+32 overall, T57).

The Dubsdread course presented more challenges in the final round with an average score of 80.74 compared to the three-round average of 80.57. Garrett James from Trine won the playoff ahead of Annala and Shane Stanley from Parkside.