JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. - After two days on the Pine Lakes course at Jekyll Island, the Bridgewater College men's golf team missed the cut for the top 24 scores and moved over to play on the Oleander course to conclude the tournament on Sunday. Bridgewater shot 314 to wrap up play in the elite tournament, finishing 29th.
"We really wanted to move up in the field today, but it was tough moving over to a course that we had never played," said head coach John Rogers. "In the end, this week became a good learning experience for our younger players, and a chance to experience this great tournament for our older players."
Luke Hill scrambled throughout the round making a lot of saves from bunkers, and led the team with a 75 despite an unsatisfying day of ball-striking.
Ocean Armstrong shot 77 to provide the second score for the Eagles. It took him a little while to get rolling, but he played the last seven holes at 1-under.
Jake Norby continued the trend of senior leadership by posting the third score, an 80. Norby played very solidly throughout the week but was plagued by sporadic large numbers that prevented lower scores. Today he was 4-over on the back nine with a triple bogey on the 12th hole.
Freshman Jason Spaar might have had the strangest tournament of all the participants. In all three rounds he played the front nine at even-par, and he probably had the best week of ball-striking for Bridgewater, but he also was plagued with a few holes on the back nine that made the scores go up. On Sunday he struck the ball amazingly, and hit 15 greens in regulation, which is better than the average of tour players. He came to the final hole 2-over par on the day, and then hit three balls out of play on the final hole and made a 12. His final score of 82 still counted for the team.
"This was one of the most bizarre tournaments I have ever seen," said Rogers of Spaar's week. "Jason hit the ball extremely well for about 98% of his shots, but the 2% cost him dearly. He could easily have been under par all three days, but in the end he did not even break 80, and that shows what a crazy game this can be."
Ronald Uszenski did not have his best week of ball-striking and concluded the week with an 83. He finished strong though, playing the final six holes at one over par.
Senior Jeremy Pannebaker played all week in a separate tournament for individuals on the Oleander course. He was in the top 10 after two rounds, and still finished top-15 with an 81 on Sunday.
This is the first season Rogers has been the head coach of the men's team, and this was the first tournament where both the men and the women competed at the same time. "This turned out to be a week to learn things," said Rogers. "This is the most elite tournament our team has played in three years, and it was a learning experience for me to figure out how to juggle coaching responsibilities with players on three different golf courses. The players and I all have a lot to learn from this, and even though we did not achieve all of our goals this time, it can still be a valuable experience."
Methodist University won the tournament with a three-day cumulative score of 11 under par. ODAC rival Guilford College finished second at even-par.
The Eagles are back in action Friday at Camp Lejeune for the 47th annual Marines Corps Intercollegiate.
