Men's Golf kicked off their season on Monday, February 26th with a T5 finish out of 8 teams at the Tyler Junior College Spring Invitational in Tyler, TX. The event was shortened to one day due to heavy rains on Tuesday.
"It's always a nice feeling to get the first event of the semester out of the way. The guys showed some nerves early in the round, but settled in nicely after a few holes," stated Head Coach Craig Sager.
The field for the event was loaded with talent. The Pirates put up a team score of +30 in the event. Individually, Scott Swayne shot +1 which was good for a T7 finish. "Anytime you get a chance to play against Tyler JC and Murray State, you want to bring your best game. We had a couple of guys competing for spots on the leaderboard and that's impressive this early in the season. Huge congratulations to Scott (Swayne) for his T7 (+1). A Top 10 against that field is very impressive," remarked Sager.
Other individual scores for the Pirates were Jasper van der Zon (+7), Lewis Hopkinson (+10), Easton Klaver (+12), Nate Swann (+12), and James Gardner (+14).
Day 2 did get underway but weather hit and the round could not be completed. "It was the type of course that doesn't forgive a missed shot. The wet conditions had it playing longer than normal and the tee balls required 100% of your attention. I thought our guys did a good job of adapting to the playing conditions and rebounded nicely on the second day. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to complete the second round, we were moving in the right direction," added Sager.
Looking ahead for the Pirates their next action will be in the Evangel Spring Invitational at Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield, MO. The event begins March 9th. "It looks like we're going to get decent weather this week to practice, it'll be nice to actually get out on the course. Rivercut GC is a course where you can post a few birdies and put up a nice number. We'll be competing against NAIA teams that can really play their way around that track. I'm excited to see how the guys practice this week and prepare for this event," concluded Sager.