Michigan Golf Journal June 2019

Val Cimini stood up for the integrity of golf, so fellow high school coaches stood up for him. Cimini is the 15-year coach at St. Clair Shores Lakeview. He has run the Husky/ Shorian Invitational the past six years. It’s not a high-profile event, having most years been a field of average-talent local teams, playing on a non-glamorous, flat, short, par 70 course along north-bound I-94 in Macomb County. Yet this year it became the place to compete – where three of the top 4-ranked teams in the state showed up – because of who Cimini said could not play in the event. He stripped Anchor Bay, Harrison Twsp. L’Anse Creuse and Fraser High Schools from the invitation list after all three had played virtually every year since the tournament began. Yes, the same three teams embroiled in the alleged stroke-shaving scandal that took place in the 2018 MHSAA Regionals and gave high school golf in the entire state of Michigan a huge black eye on a national level. (If you haven’t heard about the circus, just Google it and both local and nationwide stories will litter your screen.) For the Honor of the Game Rob McIntyre is the head coach at Division 1 defending state champ Grosse Pointe South. From across the room at a Macomb County coaches’ meeting in the winter, McIntyre said he watched Cimini turn down Anchor Bay coach Steve Price for a playing spot. GP South had never By Tom Lang Michigan Golf Journal Hig School Golf