The Southwestern men's golf team took the five-hour trek to Salina, Kansas to compete in the Carmichael Cup. The Carmichael Cup was hosted by Bethany College and had eleven teams competing for a victory. The Spartans got off to a great start, shooting a team-score of 297 to start the tournament in 5th place. A second-round score of 306 saw the Spartans drop to 7th place, and a final round 299 had them finishing in 8th place at the conclusion of the event.
"We started off well with four scores better than a 78, and continued never taking a score above a 79. However, on a relatively easy course, we did not take advantage of the yardages we had into the greens, and therefore did not have enough significant birdie looks," says head coach Doug North. "We scrambled for par well, but too often."
The current school-record in the course of 18-holes is a 288, so the Spartans were not far off early on, shooting a 297 to start the tournament. The Spartans had two sophomores and three freshmen on the varsity lineup, but competed three individuals as well. "All eight guys got experience," said North. "We are still trying to find our starting lineup and I expected some tight competition from within the team." Seven shots separated five different Spartans in the final standings.
Leading the pack for the Spartans was Freshman, Robin Persson, shooting 71-73-74 and finishing in a tie for 17th place. "Robin played well, he was top-five for a while, and had a good learning experience. Once we dial-in some iron play, watch out!" said North.
Following Persson was freshman, Aidan Rooke (T37), Stetson McIlravy (T41), Thomas Esterhuyse (T44), Ethan Brumbaugh (T48), Sebastian Camacho (T51), Marco Guimaraes (T59), and Ryan Thompson (67). "Stetson was a nice surprise. I expected him to crack the top-five at some point and he played well as an individual. It will be a battle to see who earns all top-five spots as nobody is 'set in stone'."
North stressed the importance of target selection and iron-play as the primary focus heading into the bulk of fall tournaments. Southwestern will host War at the Moor this Friday.
