Dowagiac third at Niles Quad

Published 10:20 am Monday, April 15, 2019

NILES — Host Niles, led by medalist Tommy Nate, captured its own quad event at Orchard Hills Country Club on Thursday.

The Vikings shot 189 to edge Buchanan, which shot 192.

Dowagiac was third with a 209 and Brandywine fourth with a 258.

Nate led Niles with a round of 43 on a cold and windy afternoon at Orchard Hills.

For Dowagiac, veteran coach Bob Turner is waiting to play his full starting lineup.

The Chieftains have competed in a pair of Wolverine Conference jamborees and the Niles Quad without Drew Davis, who has been out with a back injury.

“I think if everyone has a good day, we can be pretty good,” Turner said. “We have been without one of our top players the whole first week. Drew Davis will be back in the lineup next week. It will be nice to get him in the mix.”

Inconsistency has plagued the Chieftains so far this season. After shooting 197 in the season-opening jamboree at Angel’s Crossing, Dowagiac’s score ballooned to 218 at the jamboree held at Heritage Glen in Paw Paw.

At Orchard Hills, the Chieftains were able to shave off nine strokes, which Turner hopes is a good sign.

“We have been up and down with our scores as a team so far,” he said. “We started with a 197, and we could see where we could really knock some of those strokes off and shoot a better score, but then we jumped up to a 218. We need to keep talking about not letting a decent round slip away because we had higher expectations and then had a few bad holes.”

With the addition of Davis, Turner sees better scores ahead.

“Matt Mosier and Drew Phillips both shot a 44 this week, but on different days,” he said. “When we get them shooting those scores or lower on the same day, and throw Davis in there, our team scores will start to drop.”