The Hillsdale College Men’s Golf Team was the runner-up at their third tournament of the year with their best score since the program restarted in 2013.
Five players from the team, freshmen Oscar Darlington and Filippo Reale, junior Gerry Jones Jr., and seniors Josh Davenport and Drew Gandy, competed in the Kyle Ryman Memorial Invite at Tiffin University on Oct. 4-5, scoring 285-288-285-858 overall.
“I believe we were all highly motivated coming into this event given our slow start to the season,” Gandy said. “We were ready to make a statement,and a lot of the guys had seen the course before so we were comfortable out there.”
Reale noted that Darlington’s performance was particularly impressive.
“Shooting seven under over three rounds is very solid,” he said, “especially that last round of 67 really gave the team a boost.”
Darlington’s seven-under 209 was the second-best 54-hole round by any Charger golfer since the program restart.
Nonetheless, the team said the course had its challenges.
“Probably one of the challenges was you had to be patient,” Reale said,“because the way the course was set up it was easy to get too aggressive on certain holes and hurt your score.”
Though they played well, Reale said that they were very close to winning the entire tournament.
“With some small things here and there,” Reale said. “We could have won this tournament.”
“I believe we had a good week of practice, but the biggest difference I believe was their confidence level,” Head Coach Matt Thompson said. “These guys can compete with anyone at any tournament, they just need to trust themselves and their ability.”
The team will compete in the Midwest Regional Invite at Fox Run Golf Club in St. Louis, Missouri Oct. 11-12.
“This event proved that we can play with anyone in the country,” Gandy said. “We just need to keep that confidence moving forward.”