The final round at Pinehurst Intercollegiate was rained out Tuesday, ending Marquette golfer's chances of making a run on last day and leaving them a disappointing 13th overall. The event, held in Pinehurst, N.C., was planned as a three-day, three-round event, but the rain cut the tournament down to only 36 holes.
"We caught a bad break. We really could have used one more day to improve our scores," Mike Van Sickle said.
Playing on the par-72, 7,035-yard Pinehurst No. 8, which Van Sickle described as "easily the most difficult course we played all season," the team struggled in their two rounds of play, shooting 17-over 305 in the first round and 16-over 304 in the second.
Pinehurst No. 8 "is a harder course than Pinehurst No. 2, which has held the U.S. Open," coach Tim Grogan said in a statement.
Marquette had difficulty filling out the bottom of its scorecard each round, pushing the team scores higher than the Golden Eagles had hoped.
"We didn't have a very good fourth place score (in the second round), which also happened (in the first round)," Grogan said.
This marks the third sub-par performance from the Golden Eagles this spring after a spectacular fall season. The team also finished in the middle of the pack at the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate (5th) and the USF Invitational (6th). The golfers blamed the lack of success partly on their rusty short games and partly on a lack of preparation.
"Our putting and chipping is not where it is supposed to be," Van Sickle said, "We might not have come out ready this spring. I think we realized that we're not going to come out of the winter and be okay, we're going to have to work to be okay."
Nathan Colson continued his solid play this spring, leading the team with a seven-over, 151 performance to finish tied for 29th, eight strokes behind the individual winner, Colt Knost (one-under, 143) of Southern Methodist.
Joe Weber finished second among the Marquette golfers, shooting eight-over, 152 to tie for 34th place. Van Sickle bettered his first round 81 by seven strokes in his second round to finish the event 11-over, 155, good for a tie for 53rd. Both Ted Gray and Kyle Murphy tied for 59th place, finishing at 12-over, 156.
SMU shot 16-over, 592 — 17 strokes better than Marquette — to win the tournament by four strokes over Alabama-Birmingham.
Although Golden Eagles were disappointed in its place, they were able to defeat several Big Ten teams in the field.
"We came 13th out of 17, but we beat Illinois, Penn State, and Michigan. That says something about the strength of the field," Van Sickle said.
Marquette continues its season April 7 and 8 at the Marshall Invitational in Huntington, W.Va.
"Marshall's course should be a little bit easier," Van Sickle said. "Any course after the last two should be easy. We've been set up well."