At the Xavier Invitational last week, the Marquette men’s golf team placed four of its five golfers in the top 25. This week, through two rounds at the Firestone Invitational, only one golfer placed that high.
That one player in the top 25 at the par-72 Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio was sophomore Ryan Prickette, whose best finish this year was a tie for 51st at the Xavier Invitational. In his first two rounds Monday he shot a 3-over-par 147 (75, 72), which put him in a tie for 20th place.
The team didn’t fare as well as Prickette in day one and going into the final round Tuesday it is in ninth place out of eleven teams, at 24-over-par. The team is 24 shots back of first place Eastern Michigan.
Junior Kelly Kretz, a top five finisher a week ago at the Xavier Invitational, shot an 8-over-par 152 (73, 79), redshirt sophomore Matt Haase shot a 10-over-par 154 (74, 80), junior Ben Sieg shot a 13-over par 157 (76, 81) and senior Mike McDonald shot a 7-over-par 151 (80 71).
Coach Tim Grogan was displeased with the team scores but was happy with McDonald’s 71 and Prickette’s daily performance.
Grogan wouldn’t call out any players but said, “Those who performed poorly know that they need to improve.”
Prickette said his teammates all knew they underachieved in the first two rounds on a difficult golf course, but that didn’t change the fact that Monday was frustrating.
“There are three par-3s on this course that have long carries over water followed by shallow greens. If you’re not smart on distance control you can have a ball easily land on the green and bounce into the water,” Prickette said. “The pins were put in places today where if your club selection wasn’t perfect, you could put a ball in the water.”
Despite the challenges of the course, Grogan said his players were not up to par mentally Monday. If they hope to improve their standing in the third round, he said they better come prepared mentally.
“All five guys need to come with a very strong focus. When they’re focused they’re very capable of shooting a 72 or under,” Grogan said. “They expect it of themselves and we expect it of them.”
Prickette expects his teammates to all take care of the errors they made Monday so that the third round can be the team’s best effort of the tournament.
“In team golf you can only do so much for the team. You can really only worry about yourself,” Prickette said. “We need every guy to take care of mistakes they made (Monday) and turn it into a good round (Tuesday).”