Despite adverse weather conditions, including an extremely chilly first round on Saturday, the Hillsdale College men's golf team improved by five strokes on Sunday to tie for seventh as a team at the Bill Blazer Memorial Invitational this weekend.
Playing at the Urbana Country Club in Ohio, the Chargers shot rounds of 305 and 300 to finish at 605 for the 36-hole invitational, even with G-MAC rival Malone.
Freshman Oscar Darlington led the way for Hillsdale with a second-straight top 10 finish, shooting a 75-72-147 to finish three-over for the event and tie for eighth place overall. Darlington used five birdies in the final round to overcome four bogeys and stay near the top of the leaderboard.
Senior Drew Gandy wasn't far behind in a tie for 20th place after one of his best performances as a Charger, rallying from an opening round 79 with a final round score of 71 to finish at 150 for the event. Gandy was one of just eight players in the competition to shoot under par in the final round, and the only Charger to do so this weekend. The senior was especially effective on Par 3s, shooting even-par for the tournament on them, tied for the best mark among all players competing.
Junior Gerry Jones, Jr. carded a 74-78-152 to finish tied for 26th as well for Hillsdale, and junior Darragh Monaghan shot a 77-79-156 to finish tied for 48th and round out Hillsdale's scoring golfers. Freshman Filippo Reale shot an 81-79-160 to finish tied for 60th as well for the Chargers.
As a team, Hillsdale was 7-under on Par 5s to overcome a challenging showing on Par 3s and Par 4s. Darlington made especially effective use of Par 5s, finishing the invitational four-under on those holes.
While the result isn't exactly what Hillsdale wanted in its final meet before championship season, it's good enough to give the Chargers a path to an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with an especially strong showing at the upcoming G-MAC Championships on April 15 and 16 at the Big Blue Course at the University Club of Kentucky in Lexington. A top three finish there, coupled with favorable results in other Midwest Region conference championship tournaments, could give the Chargers a shot at being one of the eight teams selected for the NCAA DII Tourney, while winning the event would guarantee Hillsdale's spot thanks to the G-MAC's auto-bid.
Photo by Gwen Buchhop