The Marquette golf team continued to have problems finding its stroke and finished in 13th place, shooting an 892 (40 over par) at the Marshall Invitational in Hunting, W, Va. over the weekend.
A rough start by the Golden Eagles in the first round resulted in a score of 307 (23 over par) on the par-71 course at Guyan Country Club. It was the worst team score of the Marshall Invitational first round and was the fourth-worst round of the spring season for the Golden Eagles.
Although the team drastically improved play in the next two rounds, the poor start prevented much of a move in the standings.
In the second round, the Golden Eagles settled down and shot a score of 290, a 17-stroke improvement from the first round that was the sixth-best team score of the second round. Sophomore Michael Bielawski shot a score of 70 in this round, which was the best individual round for Marquette at the tournament.
Marquette closed out play at the tournament with a score of 295 in the final round, and was led by Weber's score of 71 (even par).
Junior Joe Weber led all Marquette golfers with a score of 219, six-over-par (75-73-71) putting him in 28th place for the best individual scores. Freshman Ted Gray had the second-best score for Marquette, shooting nine-over-par (75-71-76 — 222), which placed him in 35th place overall.
Also scoring for Marquette was Bielawski, (79-70-75 — 224, 11-over), Kyle Murphy (79-76-73 — 228, 15-over) and Steve Sass (78-76-79 — 233, 20-over).
Louisville took the Marshall Invitational title, shooting 15-under-par for the tournament and beating second place Xavier by four strokes. Blake Sattler from Akron won the individual title with a tournament score of 202 (11-under-par).
Marquette travels to Gulf Shores, Miss. April 18 for the Conference USA Championship, which is the last scheduled tournament of the spring season. Last year the Golden Eagles placed 10th out of C-USA's 14 teams, shooting a 902 (38 over) at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club in Dade City, Fla.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 12 2005.