Curtis Meyer sports editor
The Gorillas traveled to Newman this week, as they competed in the Newman Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. Dealing with somewhat adverse weather conditions, the Gorillas managed to persevere, finishing fourth out of an eight-man tourney.
“I felt like today was probably one of our best rounds in the sense of how we competed. It was cold and really windy, on days like that little mistakes can turn into big mistakes, and kind of derail a good round very quickly. I felt like my guys did a great job of understanding that it’s a challenging day for everybody, and kind of rolling with the punches if you will,” said head coach Nick Long.
Pitt State had to overcome what was a slow start on Monday, as they sat at sixth after a poor showing from the Gorillas. Tuesday loomed large for the Gorillas, starting behind and now with daunting weather conditions causing more of a challenge.
“In the game of golf, the margins are so small, being at the top of the back, to the middle of the pack, to the bottom of the pack, so if we can just clean up a few things, I think it would show on the leaderboard going into next week. Our guys are really close, really close to putting it all together,” said coach Long.
The Gorillas did not waver, however, as they scored the second-best round of the day, ultimately finishing two spots up in fourth. Fort Hays would go on to win the competition, with a low team score of 595, just one stroke from the hosting team Newman at 596. Pitt State posted a 605-team score.
“Allowing themselves to make a mistake, but not compound that. I felt like that as a team we did a really good job of not beating ourselves on a day like today, which is very easy to do. So very proud of them for the way they competed today for sure,” said coach Long.
Individually, junior Mason White led the team, tied for 12th place with four other golfers, finishing at a total score of 150. Grad student Carson Towey and freshman Tyler Hardtarfer tied at 17th with a score of 152, while sophomore Keaton Thissen rounded out Pitt State with a 20th spot, just behind Towey and Hardtarfer with a score of 153. The leader of the total score was Fort Hays Cooper Scheck, who finished with a score of 139.
“There are always things that we can do better. Sometimes it’s small, minute things, sometimes it’s bigger, more apparent things. I think at the moment, I think we are very close to doing the majority of the things well that we need to do in order to put ourselves in a position to compete high in a tournament,” said coach Long.
The Gorillas will wrap up the Fall season of golf next week, when they travel to compete in the Washburn Invitational next Monday and Tuesday. From there, it’s a long wait, as the season goes on hiatus until March 3rd, when the Gorillas will compete in the UAFS Hardscrabble.