Young Fenton Golf Team Already Exceeding Expectations

Losing three key golfers -- Hannah Foley, Rachel Hillis and Alyssa McClimans -- to graduation had coach Kurt Herbstreit thinking that this season would be a rebuilding season for the Tigers.

But after three strong early season performances, Herbstreit has found that the young team is more advanced than he thought.

"They've kind of already exceeded my expectations," he said. "The lack of experience might hurt us some at some point, but the girls played a lot of junior golf over the summer, and that's really shown so far this season."

The team will rely on senior Kate Yankley, junior Meghan Berry and a pair of sophomores, Samantha Moss and Tailer Przybylowicz to try and build on last season's third place finish in the Metro League. Herbstreit expects the Metro to be competitive at the top once again.

"Swartz Creek is the favorite, no doubt," he said. "They kind of ran away with the league last year and have everyone back. Lapeer West has a really good team and Kearsley is always solid as well, they have two really good golfers."

Fenton got a look at several Metro League counterparts in the Lapeer Summer Tune-Up Aug. 19. The team finished third in the tournament, behind Utica and Swartz Creek. Fenton finished three strokes ahead of Lapeer West.

Fenton also has a second place finish in the Judson Scramble Aug. 17 and the Tigers also have a victory over Carman-Ainsworth this season. Fenton has a match against Lapeer West on Thursday.

"We have a large number of girls on the team who are capable of playing well," Herbstreit said. "We need a couple of them to emerge who are capable of consistently shooting in the 40s, and I think that is definitely a possibility."