After two rounds Monday, men’s golf coach Tim Grogan said his players needed to find a way to shoot 75 or better in the third round of the Kansas Invitational Tuesday. Redshirt junior Ben Sieg got the memo.
Sieg and his teammates went into the final round in 13th place out of 14 teams thanks in part to his 2-under-par 70. As a team, Marquette was at 15 shots lower than the second round and 10 lower than the first, which moved the team up to 12th place, passing Missouri-Kansas City. The Golden Eagles, though, still finished 42 shots back of tournament champion Oklahoma.
Sieg came into Tuesday’s play tied for 62nd place at 15-over par, but improved to tie for 35th by the tournament’s end. He said the ability to keep balls in play enabled him to shoot the team’s best third-round score. He also recorded the team’s second best tournament score at 14-over par.
“It felt good to finally get under par today, that’s for sure,” Sieg said. “The funny thing is that I didn’t play much better today than the first round, but things went my way today.”
Only two players beat Sieg’s final round score, Kansas junior Nate Barbee and Seton Hall senior Ryan Castanet. Barbee won the tournament and Castanet finished tied for sixth.
Grogan said Sieg’s final round performance emphasizes the need for players to bring their best game to every round of a tournament.
“The challenge of a tournament is to bring the necessary focus of the game to all three rounds,” Grogan said. “You need to take one shot at a time: Go through your routine and take each shot with the same amount of attention.”
While Sieg may have stolen the show in round three, junior Kelly Kretz maintained his position as the team’s best scorer from Monday and finished the tournament at 12-over par.
The team’s top two finishers shot above 10-over par, which suggests to Sieg that everyone’s game needs some work.
“I know in the first round I had a lot of troubles with my putting,” he said. “Kelly (Kretz) said after the round today that he didn’t putt or hit the ball off the tee very well. It seems like everything needs a little work right now.”
Grogan hopes the down weekend will serve as a wake-up call for his players.
“Some guys’ games were exposed,” he said. “These guys are mature enough at assessing their games and seeing where they’re at. We know where we’re at now, and we need to get better. Sometimes you have to play bad to play better.”
Sophomore Matt Haase said the mental aspect of the game will need to push this team forward.
“I think if we can build some confidence in the next couple tourney rounds we can have a pretty successful year,” Haase said. “We just need to get going and perform well at the same time to get that confidence going.”
Haase and his teammates will have to regroup quickly, as the next tournament begins Monday, Oct. 5 at the Xavier Invitational at the Oasis Golf and Country Club in Loveland, Ohio.