TGA of Southeast Michigan

Tons of October celebrations for TGA coaches, former students and current students

Top left, Lauren Timpf finished second in driving and fourth overall in the Drive, Chip and Putt Regionals at Oakland Hills. Top right, Helen Buk of Dakota High School made a hole-in-one on the 155-yard 12th hole at Forest Akers West during the State High School Division 1 Girls Tournament. Bottom, the Quad Squad team of Kiran Shah, Jude Bialas, Alex Valentich and Colin French won the scramble division of our fall Sunday league at Somerset Park.

In addition to the highlights in photo collage, October was filled with exceptional performances by individuals and teams with TGA backgrounds.  Everyone should be very proud!

TGA was represented by 29 assistant coaches or former students in the state high school girls tournaments. Assistant coach Ariel Chang of Utica Eisenhower tied for fourth in Division 1 with rounds of 73-78, and Northville High won the team championship, led by assistant coaches Sedona Shipka and Sufna Gill, plus former student Samantha Coleman.  Sedona finished ninth individually with rounds of 79-79.

Also competing in Division 1 were Kaitlin Ifkovits and Sabel Imesch of second-place Grosse Pointe South; Jennifer Liu, Ella Szablewski and Theresa Wei of Troy; Carly Ortwine and Emily Abramczyk of Rochester Adams; Sophia Ubaydi, Addie Delcamp and Rebekah Drake of Rochester Stoney Creek; Sanju Swamy, Paige Pierce and Brooke Bugajewski of Bloomfield Hills; Bryn Duncan and hole-in-one shooter Helen Buk of Dakota; Sydney Chap of Farmington; Olivia Hemmila of Troy Athens; and Sarah Himmelsbaugh of Romeo.

Chloe Collon of Birmingham Groves tied for sixth in Division 2 with rounds of 79-83.  Riley Sauter of Groves and Leah Glover of Mercy also competed in Division 2.  Sarah Doletzky, Sarah Hohensee and Emily Hohensee represented Lutheran North in Division 3, and Aarushi Ganguly played for Ann Arbor Greenhills in Division 4.

TGA assistant chapter director Orie Murray, in her first year as men’s coach at Oakland Community College, led the Raiders to the MCCAA conference championship, plus victories in the Nightmare Invitational and Henry Ford Invitational.

Lauren Timpf nearly made it to Augusta, finishing fourth in the girls 12-13 division of the Drive, Chip and Putt regionals at Oakland Hills.  She had advanced through local and subregional rounds, but fell a bit short in regionals. She still won a medal for placing second in the driving portion of the competition, including her 234-yard final drive into the wind. The elite field at Oakland Hills also included former TGA students Preston Johnson and Leo Bugajewski.

League winners: In our Sunday Somerset league, Quad Squad (pictured above) won the scramble division, while Birdie Bunch (Matthew Grabowski, Brandon Grabowski, Gabriella Kyriakoza and Gianna Kyriakoza) took gold in the stroke-play division.

In the Saturday Somerset league, the Spider Bites (Harrison Ahmad, Saniya Pokle, Nathan Stark and Luke Sugawa) won scramble, while the Broken Tees (Blake Watson, Eli Cousins and Dylan O’Donnell) won stroke play.

In the Sunday Sycamore/Rammler league, Team DEJJ (Daniel Lee, Erick Vanneste, Josh Jacobs and Justin St. Pierre) won stroke play and Pro Boys (Alex DuPont, Colton Chimenti, Jackson Bright and Alex Nealssohn) won scramble.