After sinking to an eighth place finish in the Kemper Sports Intercollegiate at The Glen Club outside of Chicago this past week, the Ohio men’s team will finish out their regular season this weekend at the Penn State University Blue Course in University Park, Penn.
Coming off a fifth-place finish in Bloomington, Ind., two weeks ago, the Bobcats seemed to pick up right where they left off at The Glen Club, placing fifth after the first round of play. Yet Ohio dropped three spots after two more rounds of play to finish in eighth in the tournament, with an overall score of 903, 39-over par.
“We saw some positive signs,” Ohio coach Bob Cooley said. “The golf course played pretty hard because of the weather. The scores were better the last round because the weather was better. We’re getting better. We just need to eliminate the big numbers.”
With a shortened week, the Bobcats held a qualifier during the weekend while the rest of the team traveled to Illinois to determine the fifth man for the upcoming tournament. Freshman Brad Burgess will retain the fourth spot on the roster.
“We may change the lineup a bit and give some other guys a chance,” said Cooley. “Our fifth spot has not been very strong.”
In the last regular season tournament for Ohio, Cooley has his sights set on not only performing well, but on early May, when the Bobcats will host the MAC Championship.
“(We’re) trying to find the best five guys to bring to the MAC Championship, and we’re going to try and do that this weekend,” he said.
The last time the Bobcats played in Nittany Lion territory dates back to April 2010, when Ohio finished in third place (902). They would lose their second place foothold to Towson (899), but three Bobcats finished in the Top 20 golfers.
ch115710@ohiou.edu
