The NCMC Men's and Women's Golf team traveled to Columbia, MO on Monday and Tuesday to compete in the Columbia College Cougar Spring Invitational held at the Par 71 Columbia Country Club. The NCMC Men competed as one of the only two junior colleges in the tournament field and finished 9^th out of 16 schools with a 36 hole mark of 623. Host Columbia College won the team portion of the event. The Pirate men shot a team score of 319 on Monday led by a 77 from Guillermo Gomez. On Tuesday the men improved their team mark from day 1 by 15 strokes with a score of 304. The Pirates on Tuesday had all scores in the 70's which had not been done by the Men's team since 2022. NCMC, who was 10^th after round one jumped Briar Cliff University during round two to finish 9^th in the team standings. Guillermo Gomez notched his first top 15 of the Spring with a 36-hole tally of 150. "Guillermo picked up right where he left off from the Fall with a nice finish against a talented tournament field. He was +5 through 10 holes on Tuesday and then went -3 from that point to shoot 73. Once he gets some things figured with the flat stick I only expect his scores to continue to improve". Alvaro Alegria finished in 38^th place individually in the 86-player field with scores of 80-77. "Alvaro really played some simple, stress-free golf. He had a good game plan of hitting greens in regulation and only had one blemish on the score card through 36 holes". Grant Leamer and Jorge Gomez both finished with 36-hole scores of 158 putting them in 42^nd place at the conclusion of the event. Gomez went 80-78 during the event while Leamer shot an 82 on Monday and rebounded well with a 76 on Tuesday. "Really proud of Grant competing in his first collegiate event and handled it like a veteran. He hit the driver well and made some key putts over the course of two days. Jorge just didn't hit as many greens in regulation as he would have liked but overall played some good golf.  Lucas Schussler rounded the team scoring for the Pirates, posting an 88 on day 1 and improving that score by 10 shots with a tally of 78 on day 2. "Lucas got off to shaky start but got a lot of confidence on Tuesday with a nice round. His driving accuracy is much better than it was in January and I only expect him to continue to improve with each event".

The NCMC Women's golfers were also in action on Monday and Tuesday. Courtney Crose had twin marks of 108 for a 36-hole total of 216. Casey Phillips also had twin 18-hole marks of 113 for the Pirates. "Overall, I was really pleased with the girls", said Head Coach Swann. "There is some added pressure when you are the only Junior College at a tournament, but the girls came in with the right mindset and showed a lot of maturity on a tough golf course. They improved a lot with their game from Monday and Tuesday not scoring but consistently hit better shots and putting themselves in a much better position to score their golf ball".

The NCMC Men's and Women's Golf Team will be in action next on March 28^th-29^th when they travel to Maryville, MO to compete in the Graceland Spring Invitational. The 36-hole tournament will be held at Mozingo Lake Golf Course.