The Hillsdale men’s golf team conquered regional rivals last weekend at the SVSU Spring Intercollegiate in Lexington, Kentucky, placing above four of their five G-MAC opponents.
“Beating these teams is important rankings-wise,” said sophomore Filippo Reale. “If you want to make regionals, it’s important to beat these teams.”
Reale and Senior Darragh Monaghan both shot a 151, tying for 36th with eight other golfers and bringing the Chargers to a mid-pack finish, tied for 12th place out of 21 teams. Monaghan carded a 75-76, while Reale shot a 77-74.
“It was a pretty solid weekend for Filippo,” head coach Matt Thompson said. “He battled that first day and then came out and played a really solid round on Sunday and probably could have easily been two to four shots better. He’s in good form.”
Reale said he was particularly happy with the team’s victory over Tiffin.
“I think it’s something that goes back,” Reale said. “I remember being pretty evenly matched and getting the better of them on the second round by just carding the shots was very good. I was happy with that.”
In his final round, Reale put together a birdie and an eagle back-to-back to bring his score down from 8 over par to 5 over par.
“I had a double a couple of holes earlier,” Reale said. “I just got rattled at the fact that I got double so I kind of flipped the switch in my head and said ‘okay, no more games time. Time to get serious.’ That helped.”
Reale said the players were challenged by the cold and windy conditions they faced.
“It never really got above 35 degrees on the first day,” Reale said. “It was really, really windy. In the moment, it was really tough, but looking back at it, I was able to play in those conditions and battle my way through. The whole team battled through that. No one really crumbled.”
Senior Carson Stohler, although not in the team lineup, competed individually and carded another 151 along with Monaghan and Reale.
“The final round I played was the perfect example of meshing the strong mindset, persevering through the conditions, not becoming flustered, sticking to my plan, trusting my plan to attack the golf course, and hitting my spots,” Stohler said. “That’s what really created a very solid round of golf on the final round for me.”
While Stohler’s score did not count toward the team’s performance, his second-round score of 73 was the lowest single-round score in his collegiate golf career and the lowest of any Charger at the tournament.
Freshman Max Burns carded a 77-75=152, one stroke off his teammates. Senior Gerry Jones Jr. was a stroke behind Burns with 77-76=153, followed by senior Drew Gandy with 83-79=162.
“We see flashes — when everybody can play well — of what the team is capable of,” Thompson said. “We’re just trying to put it all together at the same time.”
The G-MAC Championships are fast approaching, scheduled for April 24-26 in Lexington, Kentucky. Although every G-MAC team will compete in the first three rounds of the conference tournament, the conference champion will be crowned in a championship match, one round of golf between the top two teams.
“I think we are certainly capable,” Thompson said. “If we can go out there and play how we’re playing, I fully expect to see us in that championship match.”
