NCMC Pirates Golf placed 4th in the five team field at the Evangel Spring Invitational this past weekend. Individually, Lewis Hopkinson rebounded from a disappointing first day to lead the Pirates with a two-day score of +17. His efforts were good for a T-16 score in the 30-man field. Other Pirate scores were Scott Swayne (+18), Easton Klaver (+20), Jasper van der Zon and Cody Glenn (+21), Nate Swann (+23), and James Gardner (+31). "Despite a disappointing showing, we have a lot of positives to take away from the event. There were a lot of coachable moments during the trip, they'll learn from those and get better," commented Coach Craig Sager.
Despite hitting the ball relatively well in the event, Coach Sager believes that his team can score better. "We've got to find a way to develop the mental side of our game. It's early in the year, but these guys have played enough tournament golf that it shouldn't be a problem. It's one thing to hit nice looking golf shots on the range, but those don't always translate to the scorecard," added Sager.
The Pirates have a bit of time to continue to improve their individual games. The next event on the schedule is the Graceland Spring Invitational on March 23-24. "Coach Brunner at Graceland puts together as good of an event as we're going to find in the area. The competition will be tight at the top with a few nationally ranked players in the mix. I hope we can bounce back and work towards the top half of the team leaderboard," concluded Sager.