The Bruins men's golf team opened the Spring season at the CIU Invite in Columbia, South Carolina this week. Unfortunately, it wasn't the start the team had wanted as they placed 5th overall in the tournament.
"We failed to take advantage of a course we are quite familiar with and missed an opportunity to jump start our Spring season," Bruins Head Coach Denny Scott said. "While the weather conditions were less than ideal for scoring, they were the same for all teams and we just didn't rise to the challenge while others did."
The team would be matched against four other programs including Montreat College, Spartanburg Methodist College, SCAD Atlanta, and host Columbia International University. The two-day tournament would be played at Columbia Country Club but the weather would prove to be a factor throughout the tournament with rain and wet conditions.
In the opening round, Keaton Osteen and Isaac Childrey each recorded par on the 5th hole, just missing their birdie attempts. Haddon Wiginton followed suite as he made a nice par save on hole five. Wiginton had another solid par save on hole nine after his chip shot landed just feet from the hole. The first birdie for the Bruins came on hole nine as Isaac Childrey was able to give the team some momentum as they made the turn to the back nine.
On the back nine, the Bruins began to miss key opportunities as par putts turned into bogeys and extra strokes. As a result, the Bruins struggled down the stretch as they posted a team score 356 in the opening round (Childrey - 85, Osteen - 86, Jacobs - 89, Wiginton - 94, Du Fault - 104). This placed the team at fifth overall in the tournament.
With one round to play, the Bruins came out looking to better their first round score and climb the leaderboard. Again, the Bruins got off to a good start with Osteen and Jonathan Du Fault each recording pars early on. Although there wasn't rain during the second round, the wet conditions proved to be difficult for the Bruins as the team continued to battle through the final round.
As the team made the turn to the final stretch, Osteen recorded birdie on the 16th hole while Childrey mad birdie on the 17th as the team closed out the round with some momentum. While the team was able to better their first round score by seven strokes, they still posted the highest team total in the final round with a score of 349 (Childrey - 86, Jacobs - 87, Osteen - 88, Wiginton - 88, Du Fault - 100). As a result, the Bruins finished 5th overall with host Columbia International University capturing the tournament win.
"We were able improve our team score in Round 2 which is a goal in every tournament we compete in but we were still short of reaching our full potential," Coach Scott said. "Experiences like this are a 'reality check' to evaluate where we are and what we need to do to get where we want to go."
Next up, the Bruins will compete in the Faulkner University Invitational on March 2 in Prattville, Alabama.
Tournament Results
