Golfers snag 6th in Kiawah tourney

The golf team finished sixth in the two-day Kiawah Island Invitational hosted by USC Aiken on Sept. 17-18. The team tied for its sixth-place finish with Belmont Abbey College.

Five players represented GC at the Invitational, facing 19 other teams and 95 total golfers.

According to members of the team, the first day of the Invitational concluded with a strong start, but the players struggled on the second day.

“At first the team played OK, but we all struggled on the second day,” junior Bryan Fox said. “The whole day was tricky with wind, along with several other tough conditions.”

Fox shot rounds of 72 and 77 each day. Along with senior Patrick Garrett, Fox tied for five-over at the end of the invitational.

“It definitely wasn’t my best,” Garrett said of his performance at Kiawah. “There were some stretches that I played really well, and there were other times that I got sloppy and played pretty poorly.”

Despite the setback for the team, golf coach Jimmy Wilson still believes in his team and hopes to see them succeed this season.

“I want our guys to play to their capabilities. I talk to them all the time about not wanting them to look back 10 years after they graduate and think ‘what if,’” Wilson said. “I want them to be able to say that they got out of it all that they could get out of it.”

Like the players, Wilson believes that the unforeseen weather conditions played an integral role in the outcome of the invitational.

“During the practice round there was no wind, and I think we may have fallen into thinking that the course was going to be easy,” Wilson said. “I think, unfortunately, we lost our focus a few too many times in situations where we couldn’t afford to lose our focus, and it ended up costing us.”

Senior Taylor Smith had a promising start at Kiawah, but faced the same challenges as his teammates on day two.

“During the first round I was really solid; I made 15 pars on birdie,” Smith said. “The second round I was all over the place, and I was really happy to shoot 74.”

The team is pressing forward, and hopes to represent GC in a national championship like years before.

“Our goal is to win a national championship,” Wilson said. “We want to win every competition we play in.”

The GC golf team is set to compete in the Aflac Invitational at Columbus on Oct.1-2, and will wrap its Fall season in Orlando, Fla. on Oct. 29-30 at the 2012 McDonough Cup.

Posted by Lindsay Shoemake on Sep 27 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.