Come Saturday, the Ohio men’s golf team will end its month-long hiatus and tee off in Bloomington, Ind.
The respite has been plagued by dreary, uncooperative weather. Following a middle-of-the-pack finish at Pinehurst in early March, the Bobcats are ready to redeem their spring season.
“... We’ve gotten outside quite a bit, but it hasn’t been nice, that’s for sure,” said coach Bob Cooley.
The constrains of the weather have forced the Bobcats to use the facility that doubles as batting cages and hitting areas for baseball and softball players.
“We have been working in the weight room, practicing in the cages and on the greens and getting outside when it is not snowing,” said senior Michael Lamping of the team’s preparation. “This spring had been especially difficult (with) getting practice outdoors.”
An unusually cold spring has limited play for Ohio to artificial turf and hitting nets, making the transition to tournament conditions far from ideal. Recently though, the Bobcats have benefitted from better weather.
“We were fortunate with the good weather this last weekend and we were able to play a 36-hole inner-team event to help stimulate the competitive environment,” said Lamping.
Competitiveness has come from far and wide for Ohio, as the spring season has contained only two true tournaments for the Bobcats, both of which have been spaced almost a month apart.
Besides the Mid-American Match Play event in early February, the Bobcats have trekked along the Carolina’s coastline, playing in Hilton Head, S.C., at the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate and the Pinehurst Intercollegiate in North Carolina. In each of these events, Ohio was unable to crack the top-10, finishing 18th and 11th, respectively.
During the last round of the Pinehurst Intercollegiate, though, Ohio saw its best team score, posting a 295 overall. Senior Byron Firestone led the Bobcats throughout the week with a 16th place finish (224).
“As a team, I think momentum is important again. We are coming off a solid final round down in North Carolina and a nice individual performance from Byron (Firestone). It would be nice to see us build off that final round (at Pinehurst) at IU this weekend,” said Lamping.
ch115710@ohiou.edu
