The Hillsdale College Chargers kicked off the spring season in St. Augustine, Florida, this week at the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate at St. John’s Country Club.
They ended the three-day tournament tied for tenth place at 58 over par, a few shots behind the leaders, which featured Queen’s University of Charlotte at the top with winning 27-over-par 891.
Senior Liam Purslow shot Hillsdale’s lowest tournament score, finishing with a tied-ninth five-over-par. He finished eight strokes behind the leader, Coker College’s Wanjoo Lee who shot three under in the tournament. Freshman Josh Davenport shot Hillsdale’s second lowest, a 10-over-par 226 that earned him tied-18th place.
“I accomplished the goals I set out at the start of the week, but just made too many mistakes from the middle of the fairway,” Purslowe said. “Trying to force birdies towards the end of round 3 led to a couple of avoidable errors that resulted in bogeys.”
After starting the first four holes +4, Purslowe sharpened up and finished the round at +2 with three birdies. The next round he shot even par, and posted +3 in round three.
“I would say it was one of my best ball striking tournaments in recent memory around a course that was really demanding off the tee,” Purslowe said, “which inevitably saw a lot of guys struggle.”
The team’s struggles came from the limitations of the weather during winter in Michigan.
“I think we all struggled with the things we haven’t been able to practice as much from being indoors, with that being mostly short game stuff,” junior Ryan Zetwick said.
This first tournament serves as a warm-up to the spring season, which begins after the team’s spring break trip to Pinehurst Resort according to coach Nate Gilchrist.
“I think we did a good job of staying focused and recognizing that we haven’t played in a while,” Zetwick said. “All in all, I think we’re disappointed in how we played but understand that there’s still a lot of time left in the season to improve and get to where we want to be.”
