Men’s golf coach Bob Cooley is adamant the Bobcats can improve for the fall
The Bobcats have had an eventful summer.
Three seniors — including Andrew Mlynarski — graduated last June, and three freshman golfers have joined their squad since.
Along with the incoming freshmen, Ohio retains eight of its eleven members from last year, who’ve been perfecting their craft away from Athens.
“They have been playing U.S. Open Qualifying,” coach Bob Cooley said. “(It has been) big-time golf this summer.”
This past season, the Bobcats were only four shots out of fourth place in the Mid-American Conference Championship tournament after day one — an increment of improvement. They eventually finished in eighth after the third day.
The team looks to capitalize off its strong offseason, however, and transfer that energy to the coming season.
Ohio will host the 25th annual Bobcat Open on Sept. 28.
This serves as a fundraiser for the team, and represents its only home match, though it will be held in Westerville. All of their matches are away, with the closest being in Akron, Ohio.
In college golf, the season is set up similarly to other golf tours around the world.
The season is split up into segments: fall, winter and spring, with the MAC Championship tournament falling in the last week of April.
Usually, the men’s golf team travels down south in the late fall, early winter to play in match play and invitationals.
In term of the Bobcat’s upcoming schedule, Cooley highlighted the Firestone Invitational in Akron; the Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate hosted by Florida Gulf Coast in Estero, Florida; and the Mid-American Match play in Dade City, Florida.
Cooley went on to mention that the “highlight tournament” of the season is the Greenbrier Invitational, located in West Virginia, which is also the site of the Greenbrier Classic — a stop on the PGA Tour.
Despite the incoming of youth and travel, the leadership role would appear to be a hole that needs to be filled the most in 2015.
“Peyton White is our leader,” Cooley said. “He has been. He has loads of talent.”
Cooley said White contributed as a leader last year, when he posted four scores in the 60’s, two of which came in the MAC Championship. White’s top finish was fourth at the MAC Championships, as well as a ninth place finish at the Greenbrier Invitational.
Another key component of this year’s team will be sophomore Grant Engel, who as a freshman, played 22 rounds, with a low score of 68 and a fifth-place finish at the Firestone Invitational. Both players could make an impact on the success of the Bobcats this coming year.
@Peteynachos
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