GLIAC Release

GLIAC - Davenport University men's golf head coach, Joe Hatch, was named the 2022 GLIAC Coach of the Year on Wednesday and was joined by four student-athletes on the All-GLIAC Teams. The GLIAC's 2022 Individual Champion, Bradley Mogire, was among the first team honorees and Noah Bridgeman took home second team honors, while Brandon Bodis and Ryan Kauppila earned honorable mention accolades.

Hatch, the third-year leader of the Panthers, led the program to a GLIAC Championship and NCAA Super Regional appearance, neither of which had ever happened before. At the league tournament, DU won the 36-hole stroke play portion by 21 shots over second-place Grand Valley State before defeating Northwood in the match play semifinals, 4-1, and defending champion, Ferris State, in the finals, 3-2.

Mogire, the first-year Panther from Dubai, topped the individual leaderboard with a four-under 138 (71-67) and was the only player in the 50-man field to shoot below 70 in round two. The 6-1 sophomore tied the school record for 18 holes (Nick Boone - 2007) in that second round and came within one stroke of the 36-hole mark (Kauppila - 2021). Mogire is the program's first GLIAC Individual Champion, but joined Zac Bested (2007), Boone (2008) and Adrian Balbas (2011) from the WHAC as past conference champs.

Bridgeman placed third at the GLIAC Tournament and turned in the best scoring average of any Panther for the 2021-22 season with a 74.07 in 28 rounds. For those 28 rounds, the Clarkston native finished among the top 10 six times, the top five three times and had the best score of any player for the match play semifinals against the Timberwolves.

For the honorable mention student-athletes, Bodis was the only Panther to play in all 30 of the team's rounds and did so with a 74.9 scoring average (third on the team), while Kauppila had the second-best average of any Panther at 74.75 in 28 rounds of action. Both Bodis and Kauppila tied for fifth at the conference tournament.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler