Brighton golf senior back in form after firing Livingston County's lowest round of year

BRIGHTON — This is what Sydney Rauh expected of herself all along.

She came into the season as the top returning golfer on a Brighton team that finished second in the last two state Division 1 tournaments, but hasn’t consistently posted the scores she did as a junior.

It all came together for Rauh Tuesday in the KLAA postseason tournament, a positive sign heading into the most important events of the season.

Rauh shot the lowest score by a Livingston County golfer this season, firing a 5-over-par 77 at Kensington Metropark Golf Course.

“It’s giving me more hope that I’m actually back where I am and we’re going to kick butt in state and regionals,” Rauh said.

Rauh’s two lowest career scores have been shot at Kensington, her personal best being a 75 to tie for third place in last year’s KLAA preseason tournament. She averaged 84.0 last season, but came into Tuesday’s event averaging 86.3.

“It’s been a little bit of a battle this year,” she said. “To be back where I feel I should be is nice. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating, but I keep it all in perspective. I’m just looking at certain things like where you’re playing throughout the whole field. I’m happy getting back at it today.”

Give some credit to a teammate for setting the mood for Rauh going into the tournament.

“One of our girls this morning, Charlotte Morley, sent a little text message, kind of an inspirational thing, to always be positive and happy,” she said. “I really focused on that today. Staying level-headed and happy throughout the day helps me out.”

Rauh has been in a different position this season playing in Brighton’s No. 1 spot after being the Bulldogs’ fifth golfer last season.

“It’s definitely been a different dynamic, but it happens to all the teams,” she said. “All these girls I’m playing with now I was playing with back when I was at six all those years. I try to focus on my own game and not think I need to do this, I need to do that. Just go out there and do my thing.”

Rauh’s performance led Brighton to a season-low 333, good for second place by 31 strokes behind a dominant Northville team.

Sophomore Kaila Oprisiu tied for 10th with an 83, junior Elle Krill tied for 13th with an 86 and Morley was 15th with an 87 for Brighton. The Bulldogs have two tune-up events before regionals Oct. 8 at The Polo Fields in Ann Arbor.

“I believe that’s where we should be, 330-ish,” Brighton coach Paul Parsell said. “That puts us in a lot of tournaments. Unfortunately, there are some great teams around the state and we have one of them in our division (of the KLAA). They’re in our division, they’re in our conference, they’re in our regional, they’re at states.

“Overall, I’m happy with our team and look forward to the postseason. This is when you want to shoot the low scores. We shot our lowest round of the year. To lose your top four from last year and be runner-up in this league is a strong accomplishment.”

Howell junior Brooke Keller finished fifth with a 79 and Hartland freshman Payton Rohrhoff tied for seventh with an 82.

Hartland was fifth out of 11 complete teams with a 383, while Howell was sixth with a 390.

In the overall KLAA tournament, combining the preseason and postseason, Northville shot 614 and Brighton 678 to lead the league. Hartland was fifth at 796 and Howell sixth at 844.

Northville freshman McKenzie Stevens, who tied senior teammate Sanya Singhal for first in Tuesday’s event with a 73, was the overall medalist with a 148.

Rauh was the top county golfer, finishing seventh with a 164. Keller was eighth with a 166.

KLAA girls golf

TEAM SCORING

Postseason tournament: Northville 302, Brighton 333, Plymouth 366, Novi 380, Hartland 383, Howell 390, Salem 409, Livonia Churchill 419, Livonia Stevenson 444, Canton 478, Wayne Memorial 525.

Combined scores: Northville 614, Brighton 678, Novi 757, Plymouth 763, Hartland 796, Howell 844, Livonia Churchill 872, Livonia Stevenson 885, Salem 888, Canton 972, Wayne Memorial 1134.

TOP INDIVIDUALS

Postseason tournament: McKenzie Stevens (Northville) 73, Sanya Singhal (Northville) 73, Naaz Gill (Northville) 76, Sydney Rauh (Brighton) 77, Brooke Keller (Howell) 79, Cam Baker (Northville) 80, Annie Flavin (Plymouth) 82, Serena Ku (Northville) 82, Payton Rohrhoff (Hartland) 82, Calyssa Post (Dearborn) 83, Kaila Oprisiu (Brighton) 83, Brooke Resovsky (Salem) 83.

Combined scores: McKenzie Stevens (Northville) 148, Sanya Singhal (Northville) 150, Naaz Gill (Northville) 156, Cam Baker (Northville) 161, Serena Ku (Northville) 162, Annie Flavin (Plymouth) 162, Sydney Rauh (Brighton) 164, Brooke Keller (Howell) 166, Brooke Resovsky (Salem) 167, Calyssa Post (Dearborn) 168.

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton golf senior back in form after firing Livingston County's lowest round of year