Cape High’s Doyle wins LCAC title
In a short period of time, Cape Coral High’s Tyler Doyle emerged as one of the top players for the Seahawks. After reaching that point, the junior kept up his hard work and took aim at Monday’s LCAC Golf Championship.
He set the scoring pace during the 18-hole event at Shell Point Country Club and captured medalist honors with an even-par 71.
Doyle sank two birdies during his round, coming on back-to-back holes, Nos. 8 and 9.
“I felt pretty good about my game,” said Doyle. “I played Tiburon (Golf Club) with my dad on Sunday and shot 76. I’ve shot 71 before, but it was nice that it was in a big tournament like this.”
Doyle led the Seahawks, who had two other players break 80 to earn all-conference accolades. H Halverson turned in a 76 and Anthony Myers chipped in with 77.
There were 13 schools competing for the title. Fort Myers took first place with a team score of 308. Ida Baker placed second with 314. Cape ended up with 317 and Mariner 327.
“If we had one more player with a good finish, we could’ve beaten Fort Myers, which would’ve been a big upset,” said Cape coach Charlie Pease.
Pease has seen several of his golfers improve, though none as rapidly as Doyle, who took up the game just prior to his sophomore year.
In a little over a year, he’s gone from being outside of the top six on the Seahawks to the LCAC individual champion.
“I’ve never seen anyone improve as quickly as he has improved,” Pease said. “He literally just took it up last year. His best (nine-hole score) was 47 last year.”
Doyle said he was constantly at the course or driving range this past summer. A round of 34 recently at Palmetto Pine was one of the performances that showed he was on the right track heading into LCAC.
Along with Cape, both Baker and Mariner placed individuals on the all-conference team, based on their scores in Monday’s tournament.
Baker’s Dylan Fine and Bryr Austen, each with 77, garnered all-conference as did Mariner’s Braden Junkins, who fired a 76.
Michael Faulkner’s 78 and Ryan Gallick’s 82 helped Baker finish six strokes behind champion Fort Myers.
Cape’s top scorers included Nick Dekeyser 93, while Mariner’s top four included C.J. Cricco 81, Dean Hofer 84 and Kyle Schulte 86.