Pirates Golf got their fall schedule kicked off on Monday and Tuesday at the MVC Fall Invitational. As a team the Pirates placed in a 7th place tie in the 9-team field shooting a two day total of 633. Winning the event was Missouri Valley College with a team score of 556.
Coach Sager had these comments about his team's first fall event. "It's good to be playing competitive golf again. The guys get tired on playing the same course against their teammates all the time at practice, so this was a good change. That said, anytime you make the jump from practice to tournament play there are jitters involved. The first event always favors the guys that handle their nerves the best, as well as the ones that prepare it. This was the first college tournament for two-thirds of our team and it showed early."
Individually, here is how the Pirates placed in the 59-player field.
T28 Van Barr (+12)
T30 Pirmin Kamm (+13)
T34 Frederik Hersley (+14)
T38 Job van Nieuwkerk (+15)
T47 Trey Howell (+22)
49 Martin Stegberg (+24)
52 Bryson Yowell (+28)
53 Colton Barnes (+29)
T55 Jayson Orr (+32)
"I expected Van and Pirmin to come out and post good numbers. Those two and Colton are the ones that know how we travel and what to expect around the atmosphere of a big tournament. The three of them played good this event, but they'd also be the first to tell you there's room for improvement," commented Sager.
Expect improvement from this Pirates team. "I feel like I need to do a better job of setting expectations. This group, one through nine, has amazing potential and we should always be in the top half of the leaderboard. We don't have a lot of time to work things right now, so they'll need to rely on their past experience and summer preparation. With four tournament rounds in a seven day stretch, we'll find out quick who's adjusting to the college game and who needs a little more time," added Sager.
Two Pirates showed solid improvement from round one to round two of this tournament. Hersley bettered his score by 10 strokes on the second day and Yowell improved by 16 strokes. "I don't typically single guys out this early in the year, but I do want to call attention to the bounce-back rounds that Fredrik and Bryson put together yesterday. It's easy to post a big number on the first day and start questioning yourself, your training, etc… At this level, guys react one of two ways; they feel like the high number is just where they are going to be and settle or they grind it out and get back to where they really belong," concluded Sager.