Boys golf: Hunter McCourt hole-in-one leads way as Avon wins Grey Hawk Invitational for second straight title

LAGRANGE — Winning tournaments has become par for the course for Avon in recent years. So Eagles sophomore Hunter McCourt decided to spice things up Tuesday — with a hole-in-one. McCourt aced the 165-yard, par-3 17th hole Tuesday to help Avon defend its Grey Hawk Invitational title at Grey Hawk Golf Club. "I hit a 9-iron and spun it back probably about 5 to 10 feet from the hole," McCourt said of his first hole-in-one. "I was trying to throw it up into the wind with a draw and try to set up a putt for birdie. "I didn't even know until I got up to the green. It felt great. The shot actually saved my round. I hit two back-to-back in the water off the tee on 14 and 15." The Eagles shot 311 as a team, one stroke better than they had last year. McCourt and Tyler Christy, the Nos. 4 and 5 golfers in the Avon lineup, had the team's two best scores with 4-over-par 76s. "I started off pretty solid, made a couple of birdies and then I made an eagle on 18, which helped out a lot," Christy said. "I had a stretch where it kinda fell apart a little bit but I kept it together for a 76." Nolan King (78) and Brenton Dill (81) rounded out the Eagles' scoring. "It was another good day for the team," Avon coach Jeff Stevens said. "What was nice today was we had a couple of players go low today that didn't go low yesterday. It's nice to have a deep team where you can rely on anybody to help you out." In their first two events of the season, none of the Eagles' top five golfers have shot worse than 82. "Everybody on the team is here to help each other out," McCourt said. "We are all very competitive and want to do good all of the time. We feel really good to get a couple of wins because we feel like we could still be doing a little better." Avon finished four stokes in front of second-place Strongsville and 11 shots better than third-place Keystone. The host Wildcats were led by Ian Morgan, whose 1-over 73 was the second-best round of the day. Keystone was the only Division II team to crack the top 10. "I hit the ball well and made some putts on the back nine," Morgan said. "I was 2 under through 11, then I started bogeying. I was able to make some pretty good putts at the end." North Royalton junior David Swab was medalist with an even-par 72. It was another big day for Southwestern Conference schools. In addition to Avon taking home the trophy, Avon Lake, Amherst, Midview, Olmsted Falls and North Ridgeville all finished in the top 10 in the 23-team field. Amherst sophomore Ryan Yoder shot a 74 for the second day in a row, while North Ridgeville's Ben Lampe shot his best round of the year with a 5-over 77. Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Team results: Avon 311, Strongsville 315, Keystone 322, Avon Lake 323, Amherst 324, Midview 326, Cloverleaf 326, Olmsted Falls 327, North Ridgeville 330, North Royalton 335, Bay 336, Huron 349, Independence 351, Buckeye 355, Ravenna 362, Vermilion 368, Elyria 396, Lutheran West 400, Elyria Catholic 402, Open Door 411, Wellington 413, Western Reserve 432, Lakewood 441 Medalist: David Swab, North Royalton, 72 Top Individuals: Ian Morgan, Keystone, 73; Ryan Yoder, Amherst, 74; Tyler Christy, Avon, 76; Hunter McCourt, Avon, 76; Jake Morgan, Keystone, 76; Luke Schreck, Cloverleaf, 76; Dean Upholzer, Strongsville 76, Daniel Lee, Strongsville, 76. Bryan Stone, Midview, 77; Ben Lampe, North Ridgeville, 77; Gus Matherson, Vermilion, 77 Avon (311): Nolan King 78, Jack Gerborg 82, Brenton Dill 81, Tyler Christy 76, Hunter McCourt 76 Strongsville (315): Dean Upholzer 76, Daniel Lee 76, Connor Zitnar 79, Vinnie Borros 84, Ethan Stross 84 Keystone (322): Jake Morgan 76, Ian Morgan 73, Tyler Crowell 79, Jack Senghas 94, Grant Hartley 107 Avon Lake (323): Danny Donegan 79, Kyle Ritter 81, Ryan Harbour 82, Sam Murray 82, Aneil Jantz 81 Amherst (324): Ryan Yoder 74, Austin Bray 81, Lander Bray 79, Joe Kramer 90, Prince Tran 90 Midview (326): Bryan Stone 77, Mike Ebosh 79, Steve Allen 90, Chaz Yates 89, Quinn Rowe 81 Cloverleaf (326): Luke Schreck 76, Cole Gibson 82, Matt Goldsberry 90, Branson Harding 80, Caleb Slota 88 Olmsted Falls (327): Ben Scheeff 81, Dylan Sowers 81, Aaron Katitus 82, Tanner Nelson 83, Spencer Lethbridge 84 North Ridgeville (330): Ben Lampe 77, Sam Forreistal 85, Hunter Wilson 85, Michael Ochall 83, Jacke Boynar 98 North Royalton (335): David Swab 72, Daniel McKee 88, Aryan Ahlawat 86, Jaden Duke 89, Andrew Osowski 94 Bay (336): Lucas Shell 81, Zach Rose 84, Andrew Chesterfield 90, Jonah Papp 93, Will Clements 81 Huron (349): Danny Demos 86, Adam Murray 82, Brendan Kleist 87, Bryan Zimmerman 101, TJ Murray 94 Independence (351): Mark Pillar 79, Charlie DeCapua 85, AJ Marcinko 104, Sam Coddington 87, Joey Spacagna 100 Buckeye (355): Christian Ray 88, Jackson Chambers 89, Scott DiMarco 90, Preston DiMarco 88, Michael Koeth 105 Ravenna (362): Abbie Retheford 82, Landon Skilton 82, Marcus Gibson 92, Zach Scibelli 106 , Abby Smith Richards 134 Vermilion (368): Gus Matherson 77, Jace Walczak 93, Trey Ellis 103, Josh Wilson 95, AJ Gerber 114 Elyria (396): Steven Ripley 102, Anthony Ripley 96, Kloe Koepp 100, Zach Chavalia 98, Ryan Chavalia 131 Lutheran West (400): DJ Robinson 88, Eric Dill 102, Ashton Sopko 99, Zack Keller 111, Jacob Pitcole 130 Elyria Catholic (402): Ryan Mahaffey 95, Lex Grimes 95, Sam Zambataro 96, Eric Leith 116, Tyler Suhie 128 Open Door (411): Blake Hopkins 93, Will Giesbrecht 101, Ben Comer 105, Anthony Olivencia 117, Titus Sooy 112 Wellington (413): Braden Hamer 95, Lucas Sutherland 112, Riley Reyna 97, Landon Davison 109 Western Reserve (432): Matt Jarrett 90, Breck Kinney 108, Tyler Alliman 117, Nolan Ryan 117, Corbin Studd 119 Lakewood (441): Jack Derethik 101, Leo Soneson 111, Logan Ellis 115, Justin Laguement 114, Tyler Volcansek 135 Oberlin (no team score): Anthony Jackson 106