Rain dampens first men’s golf tournament of fall season

Thomas Gallick

The men’s golf team placed third in a field of 16 teams in an abbreviated Purdue/Midwest Shootout Saturday.

The team was scheduled to play 36 holes, but strong thunderstorms caused the delay and eventual cancellation of the second round. The men’s golf team usually plays three rounds of golf, making this 18-hole event especially short.

Freshman John Hahn and senior David Markle both recorded 1-over-par rounds of 73 for the day and tied for seventh. Senior Tom Ballinger finished 1 stroke above the team leaders with a 74.

The Flashes shot a team score of 8-over-par, three strokes off the team lead.

Coach Herb Page said he was happy with the way the team played, but wished it could have finished out the tournament.

“We wanted to go out and play the rest of the holes, but it poured,” Page said. “We had a few unforced 3-putts, but it’s a pretty hard course, and overall I’m very happy.”

Freshman Brett Cairns and senior Tommy Wiegand rounded out the scoring for the Flashes with rounds of 76 and 83.

Bowling Green State University and the University of Michigan tied for team lead in the tournament with team scores of five-over-par. Michigan won the tie-breaker (based on which team’s fifth golfer shot the lowest round) to win the tournament.

Ballinger said freshmen Cairns and Hahn played well, but the seniors do not take credit for teaching the underclassmen.

“There’s only so much you can say to the freshmen on the team,” Ballinger said. “They’ve played a lot of competitive amateur golf already and they have a lot of experience.”

Page said he was happy with the performance of the freshman in their first college tournament.

Five golfers shot rounds of one-under-par to tie for the lead in the tournament. Freshman John-Phillipe Paiement played the tournament as an individual, and shot a round of 77 that did not count towards the team score.

Page said he thinks the team gained some experience on the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind. that would be useful if they returned later in the season. The Kampen Course will host this season’s NCAA national championship.

“Our goal is to play well and get through the regionals to the finals,” Page said. “We beat a lot of really good teams here today.”

The golf team travels to Toledo to play the Inverness Intercollegiate Invitational today and tomorrow. Ballinger said the lack of time between tournaments should not be a problem for the team.

“We’ll be ready to play on Monday,” Ballinger said. “We all played a lot this summer and we’ll definitely get some good rest when we get to Toledo later.”

The men’s golf team is scheduled to play three 18-hole rounds at the Inverness Intercollegiate Invitational.

Contact golf reporter Thomas Gallick at [email protected].