Two familiar opponents and an outsider walked to the first tee Thursday at the University of Michigan Golf Course for a playoff to determine the Division 1 regional medalist.

Having all shot rounds of 73, all three were guaranteed spots in next week's Division 1 state championships, but bragging rights were on the line.

Pioneer High School's Davis Ransdell and Huron High School's Alex Wunderlich shook hands and jokingly introduced themselves after sincerely doing so with the third playoff participant, Dearborn’s Evan Bowser.

It wasn’t the Ann Arbor natives, but Bowser who looked sharpest on the par-5 530-yard first hole, needing just a one-foot tap-in put for birdie to claim medalist honors.

Wunderlich left a 30-foot birdie putt well short, while Ransdell’s birdie attempt came in the form of a second sand shot that -- like the one before it -- failed to leave the trap.

“Maybe I wasn’t as sharp as I could have been, but Evan made a birdie,” said Wunderlich, who saved par to add some pressure to Bowser's gimme. “I’m not going to complain about losing to a birdie.”

Because he had birdied the hole earlier in the day, his struggles in the playoff stung a bit more for Ransdell.

Huron won the regional with a low score of 316 and qualified as a team, while Ransdell qualified as an individual by being one of the top three finishers from a non-qualifying school.

“I’ve been playing well lately, I think I have a little momentum,” Ransdell said. “Hopefully I can place pretty well up there.”

Scoring for Huron were Rob Aldrich (77), Danny Langa (82) and Reid McCallister (84). McCallister shot a two-over par 37 on the more difficult back nine, an eight-stroke improvement from the front.

“I played really, really bad on the front, I didn’t make a single putt,” McCallister said. “On the back they just kind of started falling a little bit for me and I kind of built up some confidence.”

Huron last made the state finals when this year’s seniors were freshman. Even Wunderlich admitted he didn’t think a trip to the state finals was in the cards for the River Rats earlier in the year. But Huron has been playing it best golf of late, winning league, city, district and regional championships, in consecutive weeks.

“We’ve scored our best scores when it counted,” said Huron coach Dee Drake. “I tried to backload the schedule so that we would have as many competitive rounds as late in the year to make sure we’re continuing on the upswing for regionals.”

Joining the River Rats at the state finals will be Saline, which was in a three-way tie for second place with Plymouth and Livonia Churchill with a score of 330. Saline’s fifth shooter -- the fourth-lowest scores make up a team’s score and the fifth scorer is the tie-breaker -- Jackson Lambert’s 87 beat Churchill's fifth scorer by three strokes.

Plymouth took second and Saline third after the tie-breaker.

“A lot of the time more emphasis goes on the top four, but more often than not that fifth man makes a huge difference,” said Saline coach Debbie Williams-Hoak. “Everybody is just so excited, it’s just great to be going back to states.”

Scoring for Saline were Collin Strauder (81), Ian Martin (82), Keith Long (83), Caleb Wittig (84).

Neither of Ypsilanti’s two individual qualifiers -- Jacob Sewell (85) or Brian Pierson (84) -- made the cut for states, nor nid Ransdell’s Pioneer teammates Nick Margolis (82) or Eric Miller (87).

Skyline finished eighth (352) as a team and had no individuals qualify after making it past districts for the first time in the three-year history of the program.

“They’re all young guys, it’s a great experience in our third year of existence,” said Skyline coach Ashley Mantha. “this is the first that we’ve gone on to regionals, so it’s a great experience. Next year we’ll be more prepared."

STEADY DREADS

Dexter advanced to the Division 2 state championships on Thursday after winning its regional championship at Grosse Ile Country Club. Dexter shot a 311, edging out Tecumseh (313) and New Boston Huron (318).

Just four strokes separated Dexter’s low and high scorers on the day.

“Nobody played great, nobody in top five, but we all played steady,” said Dexter coach Frank McAuliffe. “We were just consistent.”

Scoring for Dexter were Nick Backiew (76), Ryan Sikorski (77), Ryan Shoner (78), Evan Sanford (80) and/or Brennan Conter (80).

Chelsea’s Mason Wagner qualified as an individual after finishing second overall with a 73. Wagner lost a playoff for medalist honors to Adrian’s Brandon Rincon.

JUST 'DO' IT

Greenhills sophomore Henry Do continued his postseason assault on Thursday, shooting a 3-under par 69 at Westwynd Golf Course in Rochester, good enough for medalist honors by seven strokes.

Do is a combined nine-strokes under par in the postseason and has shot 13 birdies over his last two rounds.

Greenhills qualified for next week’s Division 4 state championships by finishing in second place with a score of 327. Oakland Christian (318) took first place and Lutheran Northwest was third (353).

Scoring for Greenhills were Travis Hindle (82), Curtis Heisel (83) and Andrew Khouri (93).

Khouri shot a 40 on his second nine, a 13-stroke improvement from his first.

“We need a fourth scorer,” said Greenhills coach Bill Ammerman. “If (Khouri) can shoot 40s next weekend, play like he did at the end, that would be huge for us.”

THREE BE CONTINUED

Whitmore Lake's Emma Salata and Anthony Manschesky as well as teams from Manchester and Father Gabriel Richard will compete in a Division 3 regional at Rustic Glenn Golf Course in Saline on Friday.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com he can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.