Athletes always compete to their highest potential. They try their best to achieve greatness for their teams and themselves.
But for senior golfer Mike McDonald a three-day score of 72, a personal best, was not enough to prevent the Marquette men’s golf team from finishing in last place at the Rio Pinar Invitational in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday.
McDonald was the top finisher for the Golden Eagles, tied for 33rd, ending with an 8-over par after the final round. Over the three rounds, McDonald shot a combined 224, and said that overall he was happy with his personal performance.
“I kept the ball in play the whole tournament, but I was disappointed with some putting, especially in the second round,” he said.
McDonald, however, was still disappointed with where the team finished because he believes Marquette is as good as, if not better than, the competition. But McDonald recognizes that mistakes were made and there was a lack of focus toward the end of the tournament.
“Obviously it’s not where we want to be or where we need to be either,” McDonald said. “It’s tough because you look at who we are playing with and we are as good as who we’re competing with. It’s a grind to play there for 10, 11, 12 hours straight. It’s tough to walk away at the end of the day and know that you are at the bottom of the pack.”
The invitational was going to be a challenge for the Golden Eagles before the team even arrived at the first tee. Six of the 18 teams competing in Orlando were top-75 teams in the nation, including North Florida (27), Middle Tennessee State (32), Texas-Arlington (57), Wichita State (59), Central Florida (63) and South Alabama (75).
“In golf you try not to focus on the competition and you try to worry about your own game,” said sophomore Ryan Prickette, who finished 88th with a 22-over-par performance. “You can’t worry about what the competition does and we don’t look at the field. You just play your game and let the chips fall where they may. We’ve struggled so far and this spring especially, and after this tournament it was really a wake-up call.”
Central Florida, the invitational host, captured the tournament crown with a 14-under-par overall team score. Non-ranked Charlotte came in second with a 5-over-par score and North Texas finished third with a 9-over-par score.
The only other Big East team in the tournament was South Florida, which finished tied for 15th place at 44-over-par.
Rounding out play for Marquette were junior Kelly Kretz (tied for 61st, +13), sophomore Matt Haase (81st, +18) and junior Ben Sieg (tied for 89th, +23).
“I think overall the word for the tournament is disappointing,” Sieg said. “No results are being shown. We’re at the point of the season where we’re not going to get an automatic bid for the Big East Tournament, so we need to just play loose and just have fun.”
