DETROIT — There is an aura of sweetness about Lauren Timpf.

She’s a sophomore at Macomb Lutheran North, in the mold of a typical teenager: perky, cheerful, enjoys family and friends, serious about her school work and what her future may be like.

About her future, Lauren is atypical. She has a definite idea about what she wants to do.

This facet of her personality began formulating in her mind since she was around 5 or 6 years old when she first accompanied her father to a golf driving range.

“I could see from the start that she had a God-given talent,” says Ryan Timpf, a 1-handicap player. “Her mental attitude is outstanding. She has a steely resolve.”

“I practice or play golf almost every day,” Lauren says. “My father doesn’t push me. He knows this is what I want to do (college, pro golf). If I want to work for it, I will.”

Lauren admits she used to get down on herself when she’d hit a bad shot. “I’ve lightened up,” a change in her attitude she credits her teaching pro, Enrico Sunga.

“We usually meet once a week,” she says. “He taught me I should forget about it and think how I’m going to make par from there. It’s easier to move on.”

She adds, “He’s given me a nickname. ‘Showtime.’”

Over the course of the last four seasons, Lauren has shown why she’s among the top female golfers in the state.

In 2019, she was named Golf Association of Michigan’s 15-and-under Junior Girl’s Player of the Year. She opened the 2020 season winning five GAM tournaments in a row.

Lauren turned 15 a couple of weeks ago. In July when she was14, she voluntarily moved up to the 16-18 age group for the Michigan Girls’ Junior State Amateur Championship at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers East Golf Course.

“I chose to do this,” she explains, “because I felt the older division would provide more competition and you play on longer yardage. All the colleges want to see how you play against older people and on longer yardage.”

She won the championship, the youngest in the tournament’s 43-year history, but not without some drama in the quarterfinals when she rallied from a 4-down deficit with seven holes to play.

“I didn’t like being behind like that, and it was tough to get anything going. But I grinded it out and I made it happen,” she said at the time.

Every other competitor finished far behind Lauren’s incredible record-setting five-under par 64 at last week’s Catholic League Girls Golf Championship played on the Detroit Golf Club’s South Course.

She made it look, oh, so easy. “Effortless,” said one bystander.

She unleashed her 5-foot-7, 115-pound frame to power drives averaging between 240 to 260 yards, hitting 12 of 14 fairways, seven one-putt greens. 

Her lone 3-putt green came on the third hole of the front nine, a par 3, for a bogey. You couldn’t detect how much that miscue bothered Lauren, but she retained her composure by collecting three birdies and a par-5 eagle on the next four holes.

About the eagle: “Coming off the birdie, I hit a pretty good drive (estimated at 255 yards),” she said. “I was 220 yards out. I decided to go for it. I used a hybrid for another good shot and then sank a six-foot putt.”

Lauren recorded a 30 on the front nine, 34 on the back.

A year ago, she shot a 71 on the same course in the CHSL final, three strokes behind Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Shannon Kennedy, and another 71, one stroke behind Kennedy for the MHSAA Division 3 honors.

Kennedy, the 2020 Miss Golf, has moved on to Michigan State. 

Next on tap for Lauren:

• Wednesday, Oct. 6, MHSAA regional at Pontiac Country Club. The Division 3 finals will be held Oct. 15-16 at MSU Forest Akers.
• Wednesday, Oct. 13, the Macomb County Championship at Cherry Creek Golf Club in Shelby Township.
• In November, Lauren had been invited back to the Elite Invitational in Pinehurst, North Carolina, where she finished tenth a year ago.
• Oh, after the CHSL event, Lauren rushed back to Lutheran North for powder puff practice.

The life of a teen. How sweet it is. 

Cranbrook wins Bishop/Central title

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood won the Bishop/Central Division title, its first in girls golf since the school joined the Catholic League in 2010. Its winning 311 total was compiled by Ashley Cong 76, Mackenzie Behnke 78, Natasha Samsonov 78, Sienna Ilitch 79, Katherine Li 85, Anya Samsonov 91.

The other teams: Lutheran North 324, Farmington Hills Mercy 340, Marian 348.

The top individual scorers: In addition to Lutheran North’s Timpf, and Cong, Behnke, Samsonov and Ilitch from Cranbrook, the others were Maeve Casey, Mercy, 78; Ashley Carroll,  Marian, 79; Colleen Hand, Marian, 82’; and Chloe Vig, Mercy, 82. 

Divine Child wins Cardinal/AA title

Dearborn Divine Child won its third consecutive Cardinal/AA Division championship with a 347 total. Members of the team were Julia Lizak 82, Zeinab Saad 84, Leila Saad 86, Mary Ronayne 95, Ava Scigiel 102, Erin McCormick 113.

Team standings: Divine Child 347, Ann Arbor Greenhills 366, Wixom St Catherine 372, Royal Oak Shrine 374, Warren Regina 417, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart 470, and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 530.

Top individual scorers: In addition to Lizak, Zeinak Saad, Leila Saad, from Divine Child, the others were Greenhills Mia Melendez 73, St. Catherine Rachel Fay 85, St Catherine Abby Hook 89, Regina Anna Komoroski 92, Shrine Charlotte Terbrack 92, and St. Catherine Lucy Krichko 92.

Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].