John Raffel
Sports Scene
Steve Kettler has been coaching an Alma girls golf team led by Megan Radaz, who is having an impressive year as a junior.
“She’s having a strong year,” Kettler said. “In the conference, individuals, she is trailing by one stroke overall. She was leading going into the last one and had a rough day. I’m pretty confident Megan is going to pull it out.”
Radaz is averaging 46 strokes for nine holes in the conference. Her best round was a 43 at St. Louis in a jamboree.
From last year, “her average is down a couple of strokes,” Kettler said. “She’s trying a lot better than that, but is having a hard time scoring. It’s kind of tricky at times. She’s had some bouts with the putter a little bit too where she should be scoring a little lower than she is. But she’s definitely hitting the ball much better than she was last year.”
Kettler noted that Radaz has been working on her overall game.
“She put in a lot of time in during the summer, and went to golf camp at Michigan State,” he said. “If she had free time, she was on the golf course pretty much every day. She definitely is putting time in. Last year, she missed going to state by one place in regionals and had a rough day with the putter. She went right home and started putting in the living room, trying to putt at targets and working on her confidence. Once we get that confidence to where her game is, she’s going to be unstoppable.”
Radaz is in her third year on the varsity team and has been Alma’s low scorer each season.
“She set the goal at the beginning of the year to make it to state finals,” Kettler said. “I think she has a really good shot.”
“I hope to gain my confidence,” Radaz said, “and hopefully start shooting lower and to where my coach and I feel I’m capable of shooting. Fundamentally, I’ve improved greatly. My scores have improved not as much as I had hoped. I’d definitely say this is my most successful year so far.”
Alma’s No 2 golfer is CJ Cleveland.
“She hasn’t played as good as she’s capable of,” Radaz said. “But she’s been No. 2 all year.”