Brian Bell | Marinette EagleHerald Matt Argall of Terrace Bluff Golf and Country Club hits a drive on No. 15 at Riverside Golf Club during the UPGA men’s championship on Friday in Menominee. Argall currently leads by two strokes.

MENOMINEE — The top seven golfers after two days of the Upper Peninsula Golf Association men’s championship are within seven strokes of the leader, but Matt Argall of Terrace Bluff Golf Club holds a two-stroke lead over second-place Kyle Pouliot of the same course heading into the weekend.

Argall, who started the day four strokes behind leader Steve Prunick of Marquette Golf Club, bounced back in a big way Friday with 15 pars and three birdies for a 3-under-par 69 to match Prunick’s Day 1 score, but Prunick faltered to a 76 and allowed Argall to slide into the lead of the championship flight.

“Feeling pretty good right now. Yesterday could have been better and today was a pretty boring round honestly,” Argall said.

Argall has been in this position before as he won the 2015 men’s title at Little River Country Club just over six miles away in Marinette, was runner-up in 2016 and played in the final group a year ago so he knows what to expect heading into the weekend and the experience he has could play a big part in the final two days.

“Just focusing on going out there and trying to make a bunch of pars and make somebody else shoot under par,” he said. “I do think that it’s probably going to be three- or four-under that wins, so just try not to make mistakes because it’s a tight golf course and try to shoot around even-par or a little under.”

Pouliot, the second-place golfer, shot 1-under in Thursday’s round and carded a 1-over 73 on Friday to trail Argall with a 36-hole score of 144. Pouliot noted that the course is in great shape and while it may not play to his strengths, it is set up in a way that should allow for good scores heading into the weekend.

“The course is in great shape and the greens are rolling really nice,” Pouliot said. “If you hit fairways and greens, no matter if the course plays to your strengths or not you’re going to score really well out here. The course is pretty tight, it’s tough, but if you can make a few putts you’re going to be in good shape.”

Steve Schmidt of Riverside is leading the area golfers as he is tied for third with Prunick with a two-day total of 145, three strokes behind Argall. Schmidt, who carded the only hole-in-one of the tournament, has done something few golfers have — use just one ball throughout both rounds at the unforgiving 18-hole course.

“Just hitting it in the fairway, keeping it there and then hitting greens. That was the focus,” Schmidt said. “Usually when I get a hole-in-one I would take that ball out and use a different one, but I kind of forgot and ended up using it the rest of the round and taking it out this morning, then I only had to take one out of the bag again.”

Schmidt also mentioned how much fun this tournament is getting to play with so many good golfers, saying, “We had a blast out there, all of these guys are a lot of fun to play with for two days and then during the weekend it all gets changed up again so we get different people and you never know how it’s going to go.”

Another area local in the hunt is Tim Kramer, the reigning senior UPGA champion, who shot 2-over 74 on Thursday and came back today with a 1-over 73 to put him five strokes back with a 36-hole score of 147 to put him in sole position of fifth place.

“The course is playing great with all the rain we’ve had. Matt (Topel), the golf pro and the grounds crew set it up very playable,” Kramer said.

“It’s a true test of golf. It makes you play every shot. You can’t fake your way around a good score here. For me, I haven’t played my best golf and I’ve been very fortunate to get the scores I’ve had, so that gives me some confidence going into the weekend.”

Kramer also noted how important it is to stay away from taking penalty strokes and playing the round with the same ball all the way through, something that seems easy enough until you realize how many holes out of bounds areas come into play on.

“If I can hit the ball a little better and continue to not get penalties, which is very big out here because penalty areas come into play on 14 of 18 holes here,” Kramer said. “The old adage around here is if you can finish the round with same ball you start with you’re going to have a good score, and after 36 holes I’ve still had the same ball I teed off with on hole No. 1, so that’s pretty encouraging as well.

“So, hopefully, I can tweak a few things and get it going this weekend to come back and get a win on my home course.”

There will not be a repeat champion this year as 2019 winner Bryce Douglas of Gladstone Country Club did not make the championship flight, but instead, he will try to build on a solid second day of competition where he shot 1-over 73 after a difficult Day 1 where he carded an 11-over-par 83.

“(Thursday) I couldn’t find a fairway and put myself in some really bad spots, and anytime you don’t trust a shot on this golf course especially, you’re going to end up in a hazard and I just didn’t trust anything on Thursday,” Douglas said. “Today, I tried to swing a little bit more freely, made a lot of birdies and threw an eagle in there, but I also had eight bogeys so I still shot over-par.”

The bright spot of the day was the eagle on the par 5, 11th hole when Douglas smashed a driver in between the fairway bunker and the trees on the left side to around 170 yards. He then pulled out a 9-iron and stuffed one to 15 feet, sinking the putt for an eagle.

“Eleven was a real good three-shot hole for me,” Douglas said. “After yesterday playing the worst round I’ve played in a long time where I convinced myself I could hit shots I couldn’t, coming out here and getting some birdies and an eagle really got my confidence up even though I had the bogeys to go with it.”

Tom Lavigne leads the first flight after carding a first-round 78 and a second-round 75 for a two-day total of 153 to lead by two strokes over Jeff McCall of Terrace Bluff. Riverside’s Scott Lauerman (76-80) is in third place with a 156, tied with Little River Country Club’s Brett Hermanson (77-79). Little River’s Bryce Jacobson (79-80) is tied for 10th in the first flight with a 159.

Riverside’s Tony Hofer holds the top spot in the second flight after back-to-back 80s to hold a one-stroke lead over Marty Bailey of Riverside (161) and Jim Wagner of Little River (161). Wes Stripling (Riverside) and Mitch Francois (Riverside) are tied for third with a 162 and Tom Gereau of Gladstone is in fourth with a 163.

The third flight is led by Little River’s Chas Ferm, who bounced back from an opening-round 87 with an 81 on Friday to lead by one stroke with a 168. Scott Bell Jr. (87-82) of Riverside is right on his heels along with Glen Reinke (Little River), Bruce Crookham (Wawonowin) and Jim Wickstrom (Indian Hills) with a 169 in second and three golfers are two strokes back at 170.

In the fourth flight, Ed O’Connel is leading with a 176 over Paul Boyce who sits at 178, and in the fifth and final flight Andy Ferm (187) leads Jordan Mason (188) by one stroke.