CU's trip southeast nets 13th place
MUSCLE SHOALS, Alabama (March 31) – Despite shooting one of the tournament’s lower second-round team scores, the Cameron Aggie men’s golf team finished in 13th place out of 24 teams at this week’s University of North Alabama Spring Classic tournament. CU shot a combined team score of 629 (314-315) to finish 32 strokes off of the lead in the 24-team event. The tournament was played at the Fighting Joe Golf Club (Par 72, 7126 yards).
“The conditions were quite a bit harder at this tournament, and we shot about the same score each day,” Head Coach Jerry Hrnciar said. “We had a fairly legitimate chance of having a lower score in the second round, but we lost it at the end. We just didn’t play very well and had some breakdowns we need to correct very quickly.”
Unfavorable playing conditions and tough, windy weather wreaked havoc on the tournament and forced a number of high scores. The Aggies turned in an 8 and a 10 on a couple of front-nine holes, and were unable to recover. The teams played a shotgun start for Tuesday’s final round.
“Our next tournament is now the biggest one of the year for us,” Coach Hrnciar said. “We just were hitting on only two cylinders each day this week and that’s not good enough. We shot a hole in our sails with some of our higher scores.”
The host Lions of North Alabama won the overall team title with a team score of 597 (289-308), and two Lion golfers tied for the individual title. Wes Smith (70-75) and Brett Munson (72-73) of UNA won with a two-round score of 145. Matt Ewald of Washburn also finished with a 145 (71-74), completing the three-way tie at the top.
Cameron’s top finisher in the event was junior Robbe Trout who turned in a 153 (77-76) for the tournament. His score put him in a tie at 20th place.
Senior Joe Koniecznzy was the only other Aggie to finish in the top 50 as he turned in a 38th place finish with a total score of 156 (79-77).
Finishing in the top 75 of the 118-golfer event was junior Brett Leavell and freshman Garrett Smith. Leavell shot a total score of 161 (78-83) for a tie at 64th place while Smith recorded a 162 (83-79) for a tie at 73rd place.
Rounding out CU’s five scores was junior Michael Lee who finished in a tie at 88th place with a two-round score of 166 (80-86).
“We have to putt better,” Coach Hrnciar said. “We are putting poorly, driving poorly, and playing the par fives horrendously. We need to change those three things, and if we don’t then we won’t be able to change anything.”
Cameron’s next regular season action will be at the pivotal Kickingbird Classic hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma. The tournament is scheduled for April 6-7 at the Kickingbird Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma.
“The first thing we need to do is shake this off,” Coach Hrnciar said. “We will work very hard in the next three days to get ready for next week. Our next event means a lot, so it’s good we are familiar with the course.”
On April 19-21 the Aggie men’s and women’s golf teams will participate in the annual Lone Star Conference Championship tournaments at the WinStar Golf Club in Thackerville, Oklahoma.
