The third-ranked Chargers will travel to St. Louis, Missouri, for the second tournament of the semester at Fox Run Golf Club on Monday.
The 36-hole UMSL Regional Invitational will include 18 teams from the Midwest Region, where Hillsdale enjoys its third-place ranking out of 34 teams.
Fox Run demands precision off the tee and into the green of nearly every hole with only a few great opportunities for scoring.
“The course is a second shot golf course with an emphasis on putting the ball in the right place on the green,” Gilchrist said. “The team has had success at the event the past few years and look to clean up some mental errors and win their second event in a row.”
Senior Andy Grayson says the Chargers know the difficulty, but they still have the confidence to go low.
“Fox Run is going to be a tough test as it is the probably the most difficult course we are going to play all year,” Grayson said. “As a team, we competed for the title at this tournament last year as we were the leaders of tournament after round one.”
Freshman Josh Davenport says he’s prepared for a tough test, having never played at Fox Run.
“I’m expecting a long, firm course with some challenging greens,” Davenport said.
For Grayson, this week comes at a great time confidence-wise. He and Liam Purslowe qualified for the 2019 U.S. Ameteur Four-Ball Tournament with a 64 at the Country Club of Lansing. Four-Ball is a format of play where each team takes the better of the two scores for each hole. The format allows teams the ability to take risks by taking more aggressive lines into holes.
“I hit driver well all day so it allowed us both to be aggressive,” Grayson said. “We had a chip-in birdie and made a long putt for par on the third hole to keep the momentum going.”
Their 64 was tied for second and forced a playoff for the final spot in the qualifying section.
“Liam hit the fairway and green and lagged a 50 foot putt to about a foot while the other team missed a 30 footer and an eight-footer for par,” Grayson said. “It felt awesome when that putt dropped and we were able to celebrate qualifying for the final.”
The fifth annual Championship will be held at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort May 25-29.
