After the first round of play in Chicago this week, the Hillsdale College golf team positioned itself for a top five finish. Unfortunately, a rough second day pushed the Chargers out of the top 10.
Hillsdale’s golf team played in the Midwest Fall Regional at Harborside International Golf Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Sept. 26-27.
The Chargers played well the first day, scoring 315, which was good for fifth place.
Sophomore Liam Purslowe said a lack of preparation to play in the tough Chicago conditions hurt the team’s scores the second day, and the team shot 328.
“Both days were extremely windy with 30 to 40 mph gusts, and the course was very exposed to the elements, which made it even worse,” Purslowe said.
With an overall score of 643, they fell 29 shots short of the tournament winner, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Purslowe put up a 77 on the first day of the tournament and was situated in the top 20 going into day two. Purslowe said he wasn’t able to hold on because of the wind, and he shot 83 the second day. His day-two performance left him tied for 33rd out of 124 players.
Junior Joe Torres was the low scorer for Hillsdale. He tied for 16th place, shooting 75 and 81.
Sophomore Henry Hitt said he went into the tournament with the expectation to have a good showing, but struggled to put up good scores. He said he was happy with the way he was swinging the club, so he thinks he’ll be able to put the tournament behind him.
“In golf, your most important asset is to have a short-term memory to forget poor shots or even tournaments as a whole,” Hitt said.
Sophomore Andrew Grayson played well through the wind on day two.
“The second day I played much better and was in position to post a good score until I played my last four holes 5 over,” Grayson said.
He shot 88 the first day and 81 the second day, despite a poor finish.
“Hopefully we can learn from it and next time tough conditions like that arrive, we can adjust properly and finish the tournament well,” Grayson said.
This weekend, all 12 players will travel to play in two different tournaments.
This weekend, one group of golfers will play in the Kyle Ryman Memorial Tournament in Tiffin, Ohio, and the other will play in the Springfield Invite in Springfield, Illinois.