GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Bridgewater golf team faced their most competitive field of the season at the O'Briant-Jensen Memorial tournament hosted by Guilford College, and they also dealt with wind, rain, a tornado watch, and a tough Pete Dye golf course, but they came through it all with a solid team score of 308 and a first-round tie for ninth place among nationally ranked teams.
The Eagles started on the back nine at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, and got off to a slow start when the rain and wind arrived at the same time the team teed off. On their first nine, the Eagles cumulative score was 19 shots over par and only senior Ocean Armstrong completed the nine in less than 40 strokes. But almost as soon as they turned to the back nine the Eagles found their rhythm and a slew of birdies helped them move up the leaderboard. Senior Luke Hill birdied four of the first five holes after the turn, and his total of 76 led the team.
Freshman Jason Spaar birdied the #3 and #4 holes (his 12th and 13th) and shot 36 on his inward nine for a total of 77. One of the highlights for Spaar was on the 6th hole, when he hit a massive hook that crossed his own fairway and then all the way across the bordering fairway and into the rough- his only play was a layup back into his own fairway, which he followed with a wedge shot to four feet and a beautiful par save.
At about the same time, sophomore Ronald Uszenski, who had birdied the 3rd hole, missed the 5th fairway and was well left, in the middle of the 6th fairway; but Uszenski was able to play a towering 6-iron over the trees from 200-yards out and he made the following 15-foot birdie putt to keep the team momentum going. Uszenski finished with a 78.
Senior Jake Norby joined the fun when he birdied three of the first six holes after the turn, and he finished with a score of 79, despite a triple-bogey on his opening hole and two other double-bogies.
Armstrong did not join the birdie-fest on the back nine, but he beat his front-nine score of 39 by a stroke to post a 77, and he never had a score worse than bogey, which was rare in the tough conditions.
As a squad the Eagles had 12 birdies over holes #1 through #6 and their official four-ball score at that point was -3 on their back nine, which briefly shot them as high as 6th place. Even when they settled into ninth place at the end of the round, Bridgewater was tied with Kenyon College and Greensboro College, teams that are nationally ranked as #32 and #15 respectively. After the first round the Eagles are also just four strokes behind #12-ranked Washington & Lee and eight shots behind #8-ranked Calvin College. The field of twenty teams is led by Methodist (ranked #6) at 290, followed by Huntingdon (#2) at 292, and the 17th-ranked hosts of Guilford at 296. All told, Bridgewater shaved 14 strokes from front to back, and their team score of 308 matches their best on this course in recent years.
"Normally we would not be too thrilled with this score," said head coach John Rogers, "and we have a lot of work left to do, but I applaud what the guys achieved out there today. Here's a team that is ranked seventy fourth in the country playing a very challenging course, with driving wind and rain, and they hung right in there with some of the strongest teams in D-III. As these guys become a little more consistent from one nine to the next, and one round to the next, I think they will surprise some people. I'm pleased with the grit they showed today."
Eugene Dillon traveled with the Eagles and posted 81 playing as an individual. He also played holes #1 through #6 very well, just one over par including a birdie on the par-3 second hole.
Bridgewater will resume play at 9 a.m. Tuesday and live scoring is available at Golfstat.
