SOUTH BEND ― Three of the four major golf tournaments of the South Bend area have concluded in recent weeks.
The 101st Greater South Bend Men’s Metro saw Ben Szklarek reign as champion with a four-round score of 289 (+5), edging 2024 champion Austin Christner by two strokes. Szklarek almost lost the title in the final round, carding a 76 while Christner fired a 70. His lead was just large enough, though, to hold off the defending champ. Szklarek also won the title in 2018.
Christner’s cousin, Joel Mast, was third at 294. The rest of the top 14 included Tyler Ham (296), Brandon Thomas (297), Leo Goss (300), Benjamin Mattingly (303), Mark Harman (308), Andrew Kowalewski (314), Ryan Szklarek (318), Ryan Glover (319), Joey Borsodi (321), Josh Gaughan (328) and Ben Padrnos (351).
The four-round event stretched from July 19-27 and was played at both Elbel and Erskine golf courses in South Bend.
Two weeks prior, Delaney Wade finished off a three-round win in the 98th women’s metro, shooting a 216 (+4). The recent Penn graduate fought off a rally from Lori Horan, who shot a final round 68 to claw within four shots (220) of Wade. Jill Daniels carded a 228, Paige Sweikar 254 and Isabella Jeffrey 268 to round out the top five.
And in the junior metro from July 22-24, James Dolezal won the ages 6-8 division with a one-round score of 39, Paige Sweikar 9-10 girls with a two-round effort of 69, Brian Brady the 9-10 boys with a 62, Aiden Coates 11-12 boys with a 69, Zach Brewer 13-14 with a 141 and Levi Gustine 15-16 boys with a 131.
The younger age groups played at Studebaker Golf Course, a nine-hole, par-29 setup. The older groups played at Erskine and Elbel.
There is one more city tournament left, the Senior Metro. The first round is at Elbel on Aug. 9, and the final round is Aug. 10 at Erskine.
Austin Hough is a sports editor within the Center for Community Journalism at Gannett. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @AustinRHough. Hough can be emailed at ahough@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Szklarek, Wade lead the way at Greater South Bend Men’s, Women’s Metro golf championships
Reporting by Austin Hough, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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