Ed Marlowe
Staff writer
After a rough first round, the Racers regrouped and closed strong, an excellent indication of the season ahead.
Coach Eddie Hunt and his golfers brought home a ninth place finish on March 6 in the Samford Intercollegiate held at Hoover Country Club in Hoover, Ala.
As part of a mixed conference field of 18 teams, the Racers slapped a first round 312, which was good for 11th place after the first day.
However, rounds two and three were much kinder to the Racers as the team shot rounds of 298 and 302 to close the gap.
Leading the pack this past weekend was junior Hunter York, who fired a second round 69 en route to a three-round 219 and an individual fifth place finish out of 95 golfers.
His prowess on the course garnered him all-tournament honors and a great spring board into the OVC season.
Hunt lauded the team’s efforts in the first tournament of the spring season and said he looks forward to seeing where this team can go.
“It was a great start to the season, especially for our first tournament,” Hunt said. “We’re a little inexperienced, but minus the first day the last two days put them in top-five contention.”
Junior Patrick Newcomb finished 17th overall with a three-round 226, junior Tyler Brown finished 46th with a three-round 233, freshman Wade Thompson closed with a three-round 236 for 61st and junior Joe Scholl was 88th with a three-round 248.
Host Samford pulled out the win with a team score of 882 while OVC contender Austin Peay finished in second with a team score of 891.
Austin Peay, Murray State, Eastern Kentucky, SIU-Edwardsville, UT-Martin and Tennessee Tech each represented the OVC at the tournament with Austin Peay and Murray State leading the way in team scoring.
The team doesn’t get to rest for long as they take to the road on March 12 for the Grover Page Classic held in Jackson, Tenn., at Jackson Country Club.
Hunt said while York and Newcomb are mainstays to the starting rotation, he plans to use the Classic as a weighing point for his other starters headed into the Spring Break Invitational March 23 through 25.
“I’m still working on my last three starters,” he said. “I’ll probably take six or seven golfers next week and work on finding my best five for Spring Break.”
Held in Boca Raton, Fla., at Fountains Country Club, Hunt said the Spring Break Invitational is one of the larger tournaments in the country, hosting competition from all over the U.S. out of many power conferences.
It will be the third week in a row the Racers will have been on the road.
