As the North Carolina skies cleared up Tuesday, so did the Marquette men's golf team's scorecards.
The Golden Eagles shot just 3-over par on the final day of a rainy Pinehurst Intercollegiate by Gatorade to finish in seventh place out of 20 teams with a total score of 22 over par for the three-day tournament. Marquette had only one golfer shoot worse than 1 over Tuesday to move up from Monday's 12th place position.
Yet, after hovering near first in the first two days of the tournament, the Golden Eagles came away from Pinehurst with mixed feelings.
"We didn't walk away winners, but we weren't losers either," senior Mike Van Sickle said. "It was an OK finish. It gives us a place to continue to build and just try to get better and improve in two weeks."
Coach Tim Grogan was pleased with his squad's ability to finish out rounds, something the Golden Eagles struggled with early on in the tournament.
"We got off to similar starts the first two rounds, but we finished these rounds off," Grogan said. "We've put a big emphasis on that so far this spring, because we've put ourselves in really good positions but haven't finished rounds off. It was good to see they could deliver and finish well."
Van Sickle led the way again for Marquette, firing a three-day total of 3-under 213, good enough for a tie for third, four shots behind individual champion T.J. Howe of Penn State. The performance was Van Sickle's fourth-straight top-5 finish, yet the Marquette star still wasn't entirely happy with the effort.
"I was somewhat pleased with my short game, but with my wedges and putts from five feet to 15 feet I didn't quite perform how I wanted to," he said. "I didn't have polished-off rounds. I hit the ball well enough to hit 67s but came away with 70s."
Sophomores Kelly Kretz and Ben Sieg were the second Marquette finishers, each shooting 10-over-par 226 to earn themselves a tie for 52nd. Tuesday rounds of 1-over 73 helped bolster both Sieg and Kretz nine spots up the leader board after coming into the day in a tie for 61st.
However, Kretz had many of the same feelings as Van Sickle about his performance.
"I was really happy with how I hit the ball but not really happy with my score," Kretz said. "I should have been higher up, but I just couldn't get anything to go in."
Rounding out the Golden Eagle scorecard was Dustin Schwab, who improved each day to finish in a tie for 66th with a 13-over-par total of 229, and freshman Matt Haase, who came out hot Sunday but struggled throughout Tuesday to finish in a tie for 73rd with a three-day total of 230.
Grogan said the improvement mid-tournament will be something Marquette will need heading into the crux of the spring season.
"That's our goal, that everyone contributes," Grogan said. "To have success as a team, we need all five guys to be able to shoot par, or under, to find success and win a tournament or two coming in."