Swinging Ahead: Former Ferris golfer, Eric Lilleboe, ana­lyzes a shot on the green dur­ing his warm-up. Lilleboe qual­i­fied for the U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. and also co-medaled at the U.S. Amateur Qualifer in Harbor Springs. Torch File Photo

Eric Lilleboe and Garrett Simons qual­i­fied for the 110^th annual U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

After an award-winning career at Ferris State, Lilleboe has con­tin­ued his suc­cess on the course as he achieved co-medalist lau­rels at the U.S. Amateur Qualifier held July 22 in Harbor Springs.

Lilleboe reg­is­tered 29 top-10 per­for­mances dur­ing his career, 18 being top-five efforts, while also claim­ing two Athlete of the Year Awards in the GLIAC con­fer­ence. After com­plet­ing his senior sea­son, Lilleboe was co-awarded the Bulldog of the Year Award, which is given to the most out­stand­ing Ferris State male and female student-athletes.

“Eric is the best player in school his­tory to date,” said head golf coach Mike Mignano.

Mignano said Lilleboe is even stick­ing around this fall to help coach the men’s golf team, which will be a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence for he and the team by giv­ing them a chance to learn from a Division II All-American. Mignano said he is also excited about hav­ing a guy around who has been in the trenches and gone through the process of devel­op­ing into an out­stand­ing player.

“Eric and Garrett have been two of the hard­est work­ing and most ded­i­cated ath­letes I have ever been around,” said Mignano. “It means a lot to our pro­gram, no ques­tion.  I believe this is the first time we have ever had two Bulldogs in the U.S. Amateur in the same year.”

Simons is enter­ing his senior year fol­low­ing a first-place fin­ish at a U.S. ama­teur qual­i­fy­ing tour­na­ment held in Bloomfield Hills. Simons has eight career top-20 show­ings, includ­ing five fin­ishes among the top 10. After the 2009–2010 sea­son, Simons was a hon­ored as a First-Team All-Conference selec­tion in the GLIAC. He won the Bulldog of the Year Award after the 2008–2009 season.

“Qualifying for the U.S. Amateur means a lot to me and it feels grat­i­fy­ing that the work I have put in to my golf game is start­ing to show,” said Simons. “To date, this is my largest accom­plish­ment in my golf­ing career other than becom­ing part of the Ferris State men’s golf team.”

Mignano said he will make his way out to Washington to watch and sup­port Lilleboe and Simons as they play from Aug. 23–29. Check out fsu​torch​.com for score updates through­out the tour­na­ment. n