Dennis Grall photo Paul Albanese, who designed Sage Run and Sweetgrass golf courses for Island Resort and Casino, makes a gesture to a friend while standing near the No. 6 tee box Monday at Sage Run Golf Course during the Island Resort Intercollegiate tournament.

WILSON — Paul Albanese was an extremely interested observer during the inaugural Island Resort Intercollegiate golf tourney this weekend.

Joined by his son and daughter, Albanese walked the course he designed as part of the Albanese & Lutzke partnership. They also designed Sweetgrass Golf Club, part of the Island Resort & Casino complex, and helped Jerry Matthews build highly-acclaimed TimberStone Golf Course in Iron Mountain.

They have also built award-winning Tatanka Golf Course in northeast Nebraska.

As he watched the 81 collegians hammer golf balls over the rolling hills at Sage Run, Albanese said he learned changes must be made on any future courses he builds that may draw this level of talent.

“Golf has changed tremendously over the last 30 years, since I played in college,” he said after the tournament finished Monday.

Referring to designs for high and/or low handicap golfers, Albanese said “it makes me think I will have to design courses that are fair and challenging for all levels of golfers.”

Sage Run plays a demanding 7,375 yards from the back tees, 6,852 from the blue and 6,356 from the white. The gold (senior) tees are still quite lengthy at 5,841 yards. The forward tees, where most seniors play as well as women and youngsters, stretch a more comfortable 5,231 yards.

Greens on two par three holes are seriously elevated and require high arcing shots, something many women and seniors do not have in their bags. There is also a large elevation off the 16th tee (348 yards to 263), which was nearly driveable for several collegiate long knockers.

“I’ll probably look at the designs for (new) back tees,” he said, noting the length young players bomb the ball make it harder to design a tee box that challenges them.

He said a bunker deep on the right side of the 15th hole was designed as an aiming point, but this young crowd hammered drives to that area, which is almost a different zip code than the left front bunker many seniors barely clear from the forward tee.

There were 23 eagles over the 54 tournament holes, with Clement Charmasson and Jordan Sarhaddi of University of Central Florida and Kieran Vincent of Liberty University each netting two. There were another 23 birdies, topped by 16 from Purdue University’s Cole Bradley.

Michigan State junior James Piot was medalist with a 9-under-par 207. “I didn’t expect it to be that much,” Albanese said.

Two golfers recorded aces during the inaugural Island Resort Intercollegiate tournament at Sage Run Golf Course.

Drew Tucci of Detroit Mercy became the first player to sink a hole-in-one on the super elevated 163-yard fifth hole when he hit a 9-iron Sunday. His dad, Jim, had just completed the walk up the adjacent cart path and watched the ball disappear.

“It couldn’t have happened in a better way,” Tucci said Sunday night of his first ace. “With him watching, it was perfect” into the front right hole.

Unable to see the elevated green from the tee box, Tucci said “my dad started yelling down that it went in the hole. I thought I hit a good shot and had a decent birdie putt.”

Monday, Sarhaddi hit a pitching wedge 128 yards on No. 17, which received three previous aces since the course opened in 2018.

The players were presented the flag from their respective holes as a momento.

Saturday’s practice rounds served as an important step to building team strength and knowledge for the coaches for the fall/spring season.

Take University of Central Florida and coach Bryce Waller, who said “we have a bunch of new players and I’m learning what they are trying to do.”

That was shown on No. 12 tee box when freshman Juan Delgado used driver on a tight fairway and pushed his shot into the right fescue for a lost ball. Delgado was asked what he was trying to do with his driver, and Waller pointed out he should have hit a lesser club short of the bunker in the middle of the fairway.

Delgado did just that on a mulligan tee shot, then hit two solid approach shots and rammed in a 10-foot putt for birdie, bringing a smile to his face as he learned a key lesson about club selection.

Waller liked the new Sage Run course and its frequent elevation changes. “You don’t see this many hills in Florida,” he said, noting he has players from China, France, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. “We have boys from all over the planet,” he said. “I’m taking what they do and try to make it look better, but not change their core things.”

East Carolina coach Andrew Sapp was quite impressed with the condition of a course that had a soft opening in mid-2018 and underwent some tweaking and upgrading over the past year. “It is in fantastic shape for being one year old,” he said. “This is just gorgeous out here in nature. The landscape is tremendous.”

He was making sure his players “figure out a line off the tee because there are so many blind shots. They have to discover every hole, get a proper line and get a feel for the greens and what part of the green do you want to get to to give yourself a good shot (to the pin). This is where we game plan for the weekend.”

Casey Lubahn was watching two Michigan State groups on holes 8-9 with assistant coach Dan Ellis, a native of Negaunee and a two-time Upper Peninsula Golf Association champion. With them were Dan’s dad Dean and twin brother Dave.

“We have nine guys learning a game plan,” said Lubahn. “They are learning the golf course more than working on their mechanics. And we’re trying to project what happens if we get 10-15 mph winds (during the tournament).

“The greens are sneaky fast and sneaky undulated. You have to pay attention out here. This is a good golf course. I’ve never seen a golf course in this part of the world in this kind of shape.”