Otsego’s Lizzy Budge attempts a putt at Tuesday’s NBC Championship, where she shot an 84 to edge out Lake’s Sarah Patrick for medalist honors. (Nicholas Huenefeld | Sentinel-Tribune)
By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
CLYDE — The Otsego girls golf team claimed its fourth consecutive title at the Northern Buckeye Conference Championship on Tuesday with a school record performance at Green Hills Golf Course.
“(The school record) was a big surprise,” Otsego coach Scott Bylow said. “Obviously our goal today was to win it, but to come out here, play well and get a school record is icing on the cake.”
For Otsego and its first-year head coach, Lizzy Budge staked claim to NBC Player of the Year recognition, in part due to edging out Lake’s Sarah Patrick by one stroke for medalist recognition at Green Hills.
“I think my short game led to a lot of my success,” Budge said. “My driver was going all over the place and my approach shots weren’t that great. My short game really helped me out.”
In NBC regular season play, Budge won the first two NBC Shootout events outright, tied for first in the third and finished second in the fourth before capturing Tuesday’s title.
“My season has been pretty successful,” Budge said. “I worked hard over the summer, and it’s working out how I wanted it to.”
In addition to Budge, Otsego also had Carley Etchie and Ella Kosinski earn First Team All-NBC spots. Ava Coe and Janie Lehsten made the Honorable Mention All-NBC team.
Bylow was quick to credit former Otsego coach Nathan Luce for helping build the program to what it is today.
“He built this program from the ground up, so I give a lot of credit to him because he kept the program going for well over 10 years and worked with these girls a lot,” Bylow said.
“Honestly we just have fantastic girls. They’re hard-working, have a great attitude, and they want to get better. They did that every week this season. We set pretty high goals, and we met one of them today.”
Patrick’s 85 helped lead Lake to a fourth place finish. Eastwood came in fifth overall behind Mia Brown’s 99. Rossford’s Jadyn Durfey and Sophia Shinavar each shot a 99 to carry Rossford, which finished sixth as a team.
Maumee had two individuals compete in the NBC Championship, but didn’t qualify for the team standings.
