The Marquette golf team broke out of its spring struggles in two rounds of play Monday at the Palisades Collegiate Classic in Charlotte, N.C.
The Golden Eagles fired back-to-back rounds of 283 and 284 to gain third-place position at 9-under heading into today's final round.
Until Monday, Marquette had been striking the ball well in the spring but still hadn't quite been able to put together a complete effort for an entire tournament. But with low scores in each of the first two rounds Monday, the Golden Eagles have set themselves up nicely for a very high finish, currently trailing leader VCU by 15 strokes.
Senior Mike Van Sickle had a tremendous day for the Golden Eagles, firing a 3-under 69 in the first round, followed by a 7-under 65 in the second. He currently sits in third place (10-under) on the individual leader board, two strokes behind co-leaders Vincent Nadeau of VCU and Riley Wheeldon of Louisville. Wheeldon shot an incredible 11-under 61 in the second round to jump to the top.
"I really kept it in play all day and hit a lot of fairways," Van Sickle said. "I was dialed in with my game, specifically my irons, and had a lot of shots close. That's what I needed to do with this course because they had just aerated the greens and they were really, really bumpy. I knew I had to hit it close to hit birdies, and in that second round I was just stuffing it."
Dustin Schwab and Ben Sieg both had solid days for Marquette as well.
Sieg followed up his morning round 2-under 70 with a 1-under 71 to put himself in a tie for 12th going into Tuesday. Schwab sits one stroke behind him after a 70-72 performance that places him alone in 18th. Kelly Kretz and Matt Haase weren't too far behind, shooting a 74-76 and 75-77, respectively.
"I was happy, especially with those top three guys," coach Tim Grogan said. "Mike was ready to go, and made a lot of birdies, and I was really happy with how Dustin played. He's shown signs of putting good numbers up, and had two solid rounds today."
Although morning North Carolina rains seemed ominous, the rain held up for most of the first round. By the second, all of it had cleared, paving the way for better scores for 10 of the 15 teams.
In addition to the weather, Sieg said seeing the course layout in the first round contributed to the improved scores.
"It helped because you get to know the course and see the pin placements," he said. "You've played it already one time, so you know what to expect."
The Golden Eagles will definitely know what to expect as round three gets under way at 8:30 a.m. today. While coming back to claim the team championship will be difficult, Grogan said it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
VCU and Louisville "have to play so-so, and we have to play very good," he said. "We only had three guys playing well and still shot 4-under, but we'll need all five guys to contribute and be under par, and we have that capability."