It's easy to be jealous of the Marquette golf team.
After all, the Golden Eagles returned to action this week, going on an early spring break to visit Hilton Head, S.C. and Tampa Bay, Fla.
But remember that this week is a working holiday for the team. Granted, "working" for the golf team involves playing rounds on some of the most beautiful courses in the country.
The golfers were hard at work Monday and Tuesday "playing probably the hardest course of the season," freshman Mike Van Sickle said, at Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate in Hilton Head. Nearly three months removed from its last event, the team came out a little rusty Monday. However, Marquette tied the tournament-best team round, shooting seven-over, 295 in its final round. The team's rally was good enough to finish fifth in the 15-team tournament. Marquette finished the three-round tournament sixteen strokes off the leader at 916, 52-over. South Carolina-Aiken (900, 36-over) won the event by seven strokes over Tennessee-Chattanooga (907, 43-over). Tournament host Francis Marion (911, 47-over) finished third.
The Golden Eagles were led by sophomore Ted Gray, who placed 10th individually. He shot 10-over 226 for the tournament, including final round of two-under 70, tied for the tournament-best individual round.
Eastern Michigan's Korey Mahoney dominated the event, shooting one-under 215 to win the individual title by seven strokes.
However, the highlight of the tournament came at the very end of the final round, when senior Nathan Colson fired a hole-in-one on his second to last hole, completing the Golden Eagle comeback.
"It was a pretty straight forward hole and from my angle, it looked like it stopped," Colson said. "But there were guys up by the hole and my teammates who could see the green from the next hole started screaming and yelling. It was pretty awesome. I didn't play well the first round so it definitely felt good to hit that shot to end the tournament."
Not surprisingly, it was Colson's first hole-in-one of his young career.
Playing in their first tournament since early November, the Golden Eagles struggled early in the tournament but settled down and recovered well the second day.
"It was a lot different to be hitting off grass again," Van Sickle said. "Hitting the ball 75-yards at an indoor driving range hitting is not the same as hitting it outside."
Colson (233, 17-over) recovered from a tough first-day to finish 33rd. Senior Joe Weber (232, 16-over) finished a respectable 25th. Van Sickle (239, 23-over), who was Marquette's best golfer in the fall, had a rough first outing of the spring, finishing 54th.
Wexford Plantation G.C., a PGA-qualifier, hosted the event and did not treat the field nicely. Players had to fight off windy and very wet conditions both days on a challenging course that made many players put up scores well above their averages. Nevertheless, Marquette golfers were pleased they had the opportunity to play there.
"It was a very good warm-up to play such a narrow and difficult course," Van Sickle said. "It will make the rest of the courses we play that much easier."
The golf team is practicing in Tampa Bay for this weekend's three-day Dick Wittcoff/University of South Florida Invitational. The team is cherishing the opportunity to practice on the course for two days before beginning the tournament.
"We will be a completely different team this weekend after practicing," Van Sickle said. "Our goal is to get close to where we were this fall."