It was a 7th place showing for Pirates Golf in the College of the Ozarks Fall Invitational held at Buffalo Ridge Springs Golf Course. The event, held over two days, fielded eight total schools. The Pirates were the only junior college program at the event. NCMC's 698 final tally bested only Ottawa University. Winning the invitational was William Woods University with a score of 608.
"This was as good as college golf gets. The course was in amazing condition, tough scoring, but more than fair. Being the only two-year program in the field, I knew we had to play our best to get into the top half of the leaderboard. That said, we didn't come close to what we're capable of doing and therefore went straight to the bottom," detailed Coach Sager of the event and his team's effort.
Individually, here is how the Pirates faired in the 47-player field.
26 Pirmin Kamm (+26)
T30 Job van Nieuwkerk (+29)
37 Martin Stegberg (+36)
T41 Bryson Yowell (+41)
T43 Fredrik Hersley (+42)
"I get the feeling that the guys are mentally exhausted. Most of them haven't ever played this type of competitive schedule. The grind of weekly tournaments against tough courses mixed with the classroom requirements; there's a learning curve. As a coach, you try to push the guys outside of their comfort zone so they continue to grow. I feel like we just found the breaking point," detailed Sager.
Pirates Golf looks to rebound as they travel to the Park University Fall Classic, another two-day event, which will be held October 21-22. "With one more event, the guys are going to have to really dig deep and compete. By design, it's been a very long fall season. We're looking forward to the challenge on Monday and Tuesday though. With Lewis, James, and Scott (former Pirates) playing in the field, our guys want to come out and show that it's their program now. It'll be a little bittersweet for me; it's no secret that I'll be pulling for eight guys to play well in the event," concluded Sager.