A slow start would not derail the Ohio men’s golf team as the Bobcats placed third in the Mid American Conference Tournament this past weekend.
The Bobcats improved greatly from Friday to Sunday after finishing Friday in eighth place.
But just one day later, the Bobcats had climbed five spots in the standings and finished Saturday in third place. Four Ohio golfers combined for 17 birdies during the day.
The Bobcats averaged a 71.75 on the day while shooting a team score of 287. Ohio coach Bob Cooley said Saturday’s performance was pivotal to the team’s final standing on Sunday.
“They all had a pretty good day,” Cooley said. “We had four really good scores and that was a difference.”
Michael Lamping and Connor Coldwater led the surge for Ohio as each posted a top-15 finish and identical scores of 71 on Saturday.
Lamping finished the day in sixth with a total score of 218, while Coldwater ended the day in seventh with a score of 219.
Senior Paul Grauer and junior Byron Firestone also had good days as they shot a 72 and 73 respectively on Saturday. Grauer and Firestone each made significant ground from Friday. Grauer dropped nine strokes, while Firestone dropped eight. Each finished the day tied for 31st place. Grauer made the leap from 42nd place at the end of Friday.
Cooley said the time off leading up to the competition helped the team’s performance.
“The kids worked really hard on their games the last couple of weeks. Having a week off helped,” Cooley said. “It’s just a combination of a lot of things.”
Sunday, Ohio was able to maintain third place, finishing just one stroke out of second place. The tournament was called early due to weather.
Grauer said the finish was a good way to end the season.
“It’s one of our better finishes of the year ...” Grauer said. “We’re trying to go out and win. It’s very tough to win, but we definitely want to end on a good note to look forward to next year.”
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