The Hillsdale College men's golf team battled an extremely tough course through three rounds at the Ken Partridge Invite at the Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana.
In a tournament where none of the 18 teams finished a single one of the three rounds under par, the Chargers were within three strokes of the lead entering the final day, but came up short of the top prize on a tightly contested leaderboard.
Hillsdale was within striking distance of the lead all through the tournament, four strokes back of leader Maryville after shooting a round 1 299, and three strokes behind the Saints after carding a 296 in the second round. But the Chargers' final round score of 305 wasn't good enough to keep pace with eventual winner and host school Indianapolis' three-round total of 887.
Senior George Roberts shot a 73-73-76-222 to finish tied for 13th and lead Hillsdale, which ended up with a two-day total of 900. Fellow senior Ryan Zetwick carded a 75-75-73-223 to finish tied for 19th for the Chargers, a stroke back of Roberts, and Josh Davenport and Will Verduzco each shot three-round totals of 228 to finish tied for 40th and round out Hillsdale's scoring golfers.
Gerry Jones Jr. carded a 80-80-80-240 to finish tied for 84th for the Chargers as well.
Verduzco, a freshman, posted the only Charger round of the tournament that was even-par or better, shooting a day two 72 that included birdies on No. 1, No. 5, No. 13 and No. 18.
The Chargers were the best team in the tournament on Par 5s, shooting a combined 16-under on those holes over the three rounds, and led the field with 40 total birdies, but struggled on Par 3s, finishing 11th among all teams and shooting a combined 20-over.
Hillsdale now turns its focus to the upcoming G-MAC Championships on April 19 and 20 at the University Club of Kentucky in Lexington. Findlay is the favorite heading into the conference meet, but the Chargers are definitely contenders for the title as well, as is defending 2019 champion Trevecca Nazarene.
Photo by John Quint