Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletics

The Hillsdale men’s golf team finished its first-semester schedule with two tournaments straddling fall break, as the underclassmen once again shot the lowest of the Charger lineup.

“We were certainly hoping the freshmen — a great class — were going to contribute and I think they have fit the bill,” head coach Matt Thompson said. “They’ve done a great job for us and they’re hungry after getting that first win under their belts.”

The team won its first tournament since 2019 in September.

At the Doc Spragg Invitational Oct. 16-17, the Chargers finished 11th out of 16 teams, with each of their lineup’s five players shooting within nine strokes of one another. The three freshmen delivered the top three performances for Hillsdale, with Oliver Marshall shooting 73-71-74=218, Robert Thompson carding 73-70-76=219, and Ryan O’Rourke starting low with 69-77-76=222.

Thompson said both he and the team performed well on the first day, but that he performed worse on the second.

“I just had too many mistakes,” Thompson said. “It was pretty disappointing coming back to campus after that final round.”

Coach Thompson said the Chargers faced their fiercest competition of the fall at Doc Spragg, where top regional rivals Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University, and University of Findlay battled at the top of the leaderboard.

“It was a really good test to see how we match up against some of the better teams in our region,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of a pretty jumbled-up leaderboard.”

Sophomore Max Burns went low in his second round, carding 81-69-74=224 in the tournament. Junior Charlie Belden scored 76-74-77=227 in his first starting-five appearance of the season.

At the Findlay Fall Invite this week in Farmington, Pennsylvania, Hillsdale placed fifth out of nine teams as O’Rourke tied for third individually in the tournament with a 72-71-72=215 score. Robert Thompson, Burns, and Marshall followed with scores of 224, 225, and 229, respectively.

O’Rourke shot two eagles but said he lacked consistency this week. He shot three birdies, three bogeys, one double bogey, and one eagle in his final round.

“I miss a three-foot part but I also make a 60-foot putt,” O’Rourke said.

Junior Filippo Reale scored 77-84-85=246.

The Chargers’ five-man lineup each week this fall has included Burns, Marshall, O’Rourke, and Thompson. The fifth player has varied week-to-week, but Coach Thompson said he hopes this offseason will change that.