The men’s golf team placed 5th in their last tournament of the season at the Nemacolin Intercollegiate at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania Oct. 19-21.
The week before the Chargers placed 8th in the Doc Spragg Invitational at the Findlay Country Club in Findlay, Ohio. The team beat Cedarville by one stroke, but lost to Findlay by one stroke.
At the Doc Spragg Invitational senior Oliver Marshall shot 71-75-71, junior Jackson Piacsek shot 74-71-71, sophomore Parker Stalcup shot 70-78-74, and freshman Anthony Stouder shot 72-77-76.
In the final tournament Marshall shot 73-76-74, Piacsek shot 71-78-72, Stouder added a 76-76-74, Stalcup finished with a 77-81-77, junior Andrew Irvine shot a 76-75-78, and senior Ryan O’Rourke finished with a 78-78-77.
According to senior Oliver Marshall the first round at the Doc Spragg Invitational was the best round of the fall, even though it was the hardest course, and sophomore John Cassiday agreed.
“The conditions of the course and the course itself dictate 90% of what the scores are going to be,” Cassiday said. “So I think we shot a couple over par, but it was really a tough course, so shooting those scores was good as a team.”
The Chargers showed growth on the greens leading up to their best performance at the last tournament, said head coach Luke Kelly.
“Attitude-wise I saw them fighting a little harder,” Kelly said. “When things weren’t going great they stayed determined and showed some grit to overcome their down days. The biggest improvement I saw was the commitment level and attitude to succeed in the end.”
Cassiday said he played his best at the Nemacolin Intercollegiate.
“This past tournament I felt like I was in control of my game and just took it one hole at a time,” Cassiday said.
According to Cassiday, the consistent issue the Chargers faced throughout the semester was doing poorly in the second round.
“It’s been the second round that we’ve tanked and that puts us lower than we should be,” Cassiday said.
Kelly explained when multiple people do poorly in one round it affects the whole team.
“We always play two solid rounds and one not so great round,” Kelly said. “Everyone picks the same round to do great, and then the team score suffers because of it.”
According to Kelly the team will be preparing during the winter season to come back in the spring.
“We’ll be working out in the weight room a few days a week to get stronger and faster in there,” Kelly said. “We ramp up when we get back from Christmas break so we’ll be practicing on each individual golf swing, trying to improve some of the flaws in their swing.”
The Chargers will be back on the greens on Feb. 20 at the Oldfield Intercollegiate in Okatie, South Carolina.
