Golf team prepares for championships
The golf team had one of its better scores at the U.S. Intercollegiate.
Published April 20, 2007
The Big 12 Championships at the Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., are around the corner for the MU golf team, and though it is ranked 11th out of the 12 teams competing, team members think they are ready to surprise the competition.
Last weekend at the U.S. Intercollegiate, MU finished eight out of 15 teams — one of its better finishes in a rollercoaster season.
Although the team wasn't content with the finish, it's an improvement over parts of the season in which MU struggled.
Sophomore Peter Malnati had a strong performance for the Tigers and finished tied for 12th place to lead the Tigers. He shot 72-70-71 for a three-round total of 213. Senior Shawn Jasper tied for 30th place by shooting 73-73-72 for a total of 218. Senior John Kelly, who two weeks ago played in the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga., finished tied for 41st place.
Kelly started the tournament strong, carding at 75 on the first round and a career-low score of 65 on the second round, but he had some trouble on the final round and shot 81 for a total score of 221.
Kelly said he had trouble understanding what happened but said it's just part of the game.
"I'm still baffled by that," Kelly said. "It was the best ball striking of my life on that second day. I only mishit two shots the whole day, and then the third day, I think I only hit two good shots. It was just golf at its finest right there."
Variation is something the team is used to.
"Golf is difficult," Malnati said. "The reason it's so difficult is because it's a different game. Week to week, you have to be ready to adapt. Every weekend we're going somewhere different."
Next weekend in Hutchinson, the team can expect some wind on the course, which is one of the hardest factors to deal with in golf.
"Hutchinson, Kan., is really known as a gusty kind of place," Malnati said. "We're getting prepared to play in high winds. It makes it difficult, but the conditions change for everybody. It's not just going to be tough for us, it's going to be tougher for everybody."
Kelly doesn't think the wind should be too much of a problem as long as the Tigers stay on top of their game.
"When you're playing in the wind, you just have to work on hitting the ball solidly," he said. "If you can hit the ball solidly, that can take a lot of the difficulty of the wind out of play."
Coach Mark Leroux thinks the wind could actually be an advantage to the Tigers, who have played in some blustery weather this season.
"I think it favors us," Leroux said. "We played in Florida, and it was windy. California was super windy. We played in Purdue, and it was windy and freezing, and Stanford was windy, so we're ready for the wind. I hope it blows."
The team knows what it needs to do to be successful — it's just a matter of execution.
"For us to finish well, the underclassmen, like myself, need to step up," Malnati said. "John and Shawn, even when they have off-days, those two are still going to help us in golf tournaments. If we can get two guys to step up and play well, that will bump us from eighth to second or third, and all we need is for someone to have a special week to go from second and third to winning."
Leroux said MU's toughest competition for a regional spot would likely come from Oklahoma and Iowa State.
