There’s nothing like some friendly competition to bring out the best in an athlete.

Julian Sinishtaj and Troy Nguyen are friends and teammates on De La Salle’s golf team but they’re constantly trying to one-up the other.

Monday, Sinishtaj had the upper hand at the Macomb County Invitational at The Orchards Golf Club — but by the slimmest of margins. The Pilots’ sophomore shot a one-under par 71, to nip Nguyen by one stroke as meet medalist.

“It means a lot to win,” Sinishtaj said. “Troy is a very good player. We’re very competitive. We’re always looking to beat each other. We try to help each other play good but we have the drive to beat each other.”

Each of them now has a county medalist award. Nguyen was medalist as a freshman in 2023.

“I think (the rivalry) is great,” Nguyen said. “We’re both working every day to be better than the other one. It was tough today but it fuels me to work harder.”

The battle between Sinishtaj and Nguyen also helps the team. De La Salle won the county championship for the 10th time in 11 seasons.

“The competition between them is what fuels us to get better,” said coach Dennis Koch. “The rest of the team sees how Troy and Julian try to outdo each other. They don’t just want to be 1 and 2 in the county. They want to be 1 and 2 in the state.”

Both golfers got off to good starts on the tough Orchards course.

“I started off good — made a 20-footer on 1 for birdie,” Sinishtaj said. “I birdied 4, got a bad break on 6 and had to punch out for a bogey. I parred out to 11 and made birdie.

“I was getting up and down a lot, scrambling the rest of the way. I wasn’t getting off (the tee) too good but my short game was good. I birdied 17 to get to one under and it was enough.”

Nguyen birdied three of the first four holes and finished the front nine with a 33.

“The back nine I didn’t stay on track with my game,” he said. “I made a couple silly mistakes.

“We’re working on the mental part, staying hot when we get off to a good start.”

The short game was one of the first things Sinishtaj developed when he started golfing eight years ago.

“I never hit a ball much when I was younger so I worked on my short game a lot,” he said.

“As I got longer it’s helped me a lot.”

Sinishtaj’s father, John, was the one who encouraged Julian to take up golf.

“He was a basketball player but when he was about 30 he took up golf and he started coaching me,” Julian said.

The top eight scorers make the all-county team.

Lucas Faubert of Anchor Bay was third with a 75. Austin Bartsch, Dakota; Noah Shea, Lutheran North and Jack Higgins, Anchor Bay each shot 76 to tie for fourth place. Lance Milton of Lutheran North was seventh with a 77. Max Teschendorf, De La Salle; Nolan Roose, Armada; and Braeden Kurmas, Utica finished in a three-way tie for eighth with 78s.