Golf gets fourth at tourney

The Georgia College golf team finished fourth at the 16-team Aflac Invitational on Oct. 1-2.

A rainy first day of the tournament made the course more of a swampland, affecting everyone’s game. The GC team was only able to play 27 holes out of scheduled 36 because of rain delays.

“I personally am not the best player in the rain. … The rain is not my friend,” sophomore marketing major Ryan Trocchio said.

The tournament was at the par-71, 6,515-yard Country Club of Columbus.

“This is my favorite course we play. It is an old course with a very traditional layout. It’s got tight fairways, so you have to hit every club in your bag. It’s really a tough course,” senior management major Taylor Smith said.

At three over par, Smith took seventh of the 90 golfers participating in the tournament, his first top-10 finish of the season. Trocchio was the only player on the Georgia College team to successfully card an eagle. He placed 12th overall in the tournament.

“It was pretty exciting because this was my first eagle of the season,” Trocchio said.

Senior biology major Patrick Garrett snagged another top-20 finish at the tournament, while junior management major Victor Monte finished 43rd. Junior business management major Bryan Fox finished 66th at plus-18.

Overall, the GC golf team finished 28 over par for the three rounds. Saving their greatest round for last, the team carded a 291 in round three.

“I think our team did OK overall. We definitely left a lot of shots out there. We should have contended to win the tournament. I think the poor weather and having to count a few scores we normally don’t count definitely contributed to our final placement,” Smith said.

To prepare for this and other challenging tournaments, the team works out together two days per week and plays golf almost every day. The men of the GC golf team can be found playing at the Milledgeville Country Club almost any day of the week, whether it be for practice or for enjoyment.

“To keep focused between tournaments we all go play nine holes together after we all get out of class. We usually hang out outside of school anyway so it’s a good way to get relaxed and focused for the next tournament. We all play the best when we are relaxed,” Trocchio said.

Reflecting on the team’s score and performance during the invitational, Jimmy Wilson, GC’s golf coach for the last 17 years, saw some good signs and some things that needed improvement in the men playing on his team.

“We need to try to be more prepared for inclement weather and to be better prepared to compete in those conditions. … Let everyone else worry about the weather while we just take care of playing golf,” Wilson said.

Posted by Kelsey Cooper on Oct 18 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.