The Hillsdale College men's golf team put together two solid rounds against a field of many of the Midwest Region's best teams at the Doc Spragg Invitational hosted by the University of Findlay at the Findlay Country Club on Monday and Tuesday, but a challenging final round saw the Chargers drop to 11th in a tightly packed team finish.
Hillsdale was one-under par after the first day of competition, sitting in a tie for seventh place, after shooting a three-over par 291 in round one and improving to a 287 team score in the second round on Monday, while remaining very much in contention for a top three finish against a who's who of some of the top teams in the region. On a tight leaderboard with just 10 strokes separating sixth and 13th place, however, a 12-over final round as a team saw the Chargers drop back to 11th in the standings.
Every one of Hillsdale's five competing golfers had at least one strong round in the event, but were unable to sustain that level of play across all three rounds in the invite. Freshman Oliver Marshall was the most consistent Charger in the competition, shooting a 73-71-74=218 to finish tied for 31st and lead Hillsdale in the event. Fellow freshman Robert Thompson had a strong second round, shooting a two-under par 70 to help the Chargers finish under par as a team, and finished tied for 40th overall with a 73-70-76=219.
The third of Hillsdale's three standout freshmen, Ryan O'Rourke, started the event on fire, going five-under in his first nine holes to briefly take the individual lead, but couldn't find the same form in rounds two and three, shooting a 69-77-76=222 to finish tied for 49th.
Sophomore Max Burns bounced back from a very difficult 81 in his first round to fire a three-under 69 in the second round and finish the event tied for 57th overall with an 81-69-74=224 scorecard. Junior Charlie Belden shot a 76-74-77=227 to finish tied for 67th and held together in the first and second rounds to contribute to solid team scores for the Chargers on Monday.
While the overall result wasn't what the Chargers had hoped for, the Doc Spragg Invite still contained positives to build from for a young team with limited experience in collegiate golf. Four of Hillsdale's five players posted at least one round under par in the event, and all of them contributed at least two scores to overall team score, another display of the potential of a squad that won the Malone-Glenmoor Invitational and had another solid finish at the Kyle Ryman Memorial Invite earlier this season.
Hillsdale will compete one more time in the fall, traveling to the Nemacolin Resort in Pennsylvania for the Findlay Fall Classic on Oct. 23 and 24, looking to finish the first half of its season strong and head into the winter break with momentum ahead of the spring campaign.
Photo by Meredith Wipper, Findlay Athletics