One glance at the Bobcats' scorecards yesterday draws the eyes to the final four holes, and not for good reasons.
Standing alone in fourth place after the third round of the Mid-American Conference Championship, and with at least one player in good form, the outlook was bright.
The Bobcats weren't the only victims; Longaberger Golf Club was set up in major championship style and had its way with the field.
All the pins were tucked
and the greens were quick and dry sophomore Chad Warmbein said. If you hit good shots you could make some birdies. If you didn't
you made bogeys or worse.
For most of the day, the Bobcats hovered around fourth place. They were steady for 14 holes, but the closing stretch proved to be their undoing.
The last four holes were extremely difficult
coach Bob Cooley said. We let a few shots get away from us. We struggled on the last nine holes.
That was the toughest part of the golf course.
Warmbein echoed his coach
and called the last four holes the toughest stretch I've ever played.
The Bobcats fell to seventh place overall
due in large part to 26 double bogeys and three triple bogeys.
Eastern Michigan shot even par 288 on the final round to defeat 36th-ranked Kent State and win their second straight MAC title.
Heading into the final round
sophomore Tim Gusweiler was the story of the tournament for Ohio. His opening-round 2-under 70 put him atop the leader board
and Cooley identified him as the catalyst when the weather went bad.
Tim really kept it going out there, Cooley said. It was difficult; we played in pouring down rain, and the course was just set up really tough.
Ohio's inexperience
evidenced by a lineup of three sophomores
a freshman and a junior was a major factor in the lackluster finish. Cooley didn't second-guess himself with the five golfers he played.
We had our best five out there, Cooley said. We're just really young and inexperienced. Our best golf is ahead of us, hopefully we'll take this experience and get better.
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24609,2008-05-05 00:00:00,10 years later
