A warm weekend wasn’t enough for Marquette men’s golf, who faced some difficulties at the South Florida Invitational in Dade City, Fla.
At the first big invitational of the spring season, the men struggled at the 21-team, 54-hole tournament, said first-year coach Steve Bailey.
“I’m a little disappointed in our finish this weekend,” he said.
Bailey wanted his team to finish strong during Saturday’s second round after posting a first-round 297 on Friday, but the men finished one stroke higher with a 298.
“Personally, there were not many highs or lows,” senior Kelly Kretz said.
Kretz was the only Marquette competitor to finish in the top 25 for the tournament. He started the third round tied at 12th on the individual leaderboard, after shooting a second-round 70, but wound up in a tie for 21st with three other competitors.
He finished at even par with an overall score of 216, shooting 74 and 72 in the first and third rounds, respectively.
Freshman Corey Konieczki recorded the second-lowest score among the Golden Eagles. He finished nine over par for the weekend (225) and closed the tournament in an eight-way tie for 57th.
Mentally staying in the match after a bad shot or round was difficult, Konieczki said. He shot an even-par 72 Saturday, but closed his tournament with a five-over par in the final round.
In last year’s South Florida Invitational, the men finished tied for 19th. This year the men improved by two places to tie at 17, and lowered their overall stroke count from 901 to 899.
Despite the team’s improvement from last season, junior Matt Haase struggled during this weekend’s tournament.
He performed well during the fall season, but hit a low point with a score of 36 over par for the weekend. He lacked consistency with an overall score of 252 (79-86-87).
Sophomore Ryan Prickette left the final round tied at 83rd with an overall score of 14 over for the weekend. He was the only Marquette player to improve his score from round two to round three, doing so by four strokes.
Freshman Michael Motz finished just ahead of Prickette with a 12-over 228 for the weekend, good for a tie at 71st.
Middle Tennessee State swept the competition, ending the weekend with a score of 838 and beating second-place Florida State by 19 strokes.
Big East rival DePaul finished one spot ahead of the Golden Eagles at 16th. Other Big East teams in the tournament included 13th-place Louisville and Cincinnati, which tied with Marquette.
The team has a week to prepare for the Rio Pinar Invitational in Orlando over spring break.
“It’s just a matter of the guys building up some confidence,” Bailey said.
