Men’s and Women’s Golf Put on Show In Mid-Season Tournaments

Both the mens and womens golf team competed at invitationals last week, with the women’s team hosting one through Loyola and the men’s team traveling out of state to compete. 

Brochu plays lowest score to date at Loyola Parkinson Family Invitational

Women’s golf traveled to Libertyville, Illinois Monday Oct. 9 and Tuesday Oct. 10 to participate in the Loyola Parkinson Family Invitational where they finished ninth overall out of 12 teams.

By the end of the first day, the Ramblers were tied with Butler University for seventh place after recording a total of 640 strokes in the first two rounds.

Third-year Jolie Brochu sat at seventh individually for the first day with a 153 (74-79), giving the Ramblers their low score in the first two rounds (328-312).

Behind Brochu were first-year Grace Durkin, third-year Cate Reisinger, fourth-year Abby Thielbar and first-year Cassie Psuik with scores of 158 (81-77), 161 (84-77), 169 (90-79) and 174 (89-85), respectively. 

Individually, fourth-year Kate Meier led the Ramblers, achieving a 164 (80-84). Behind Meier was first-year Reese Clark with a 167 (81-86) and first-year Amelia Gatti at 174 (88-86).

At the end of the second day, the Ramblers finished ninth, shooting a combined 315 in their final round and giving them a 54-hole score of 955 strokes. 

In a press release from the university, head coach Brandy Johnston said she was grateful for the opportunity despite how poorly the team performed. 

“Not the strongest of results for us, but hosting a tournament is always an amazing experience,” Johnston said. “We are incredibly fortunate to be able to host a tournament at a course like the Merit Club. This would not have been possible without the support of the Parkinson family.”

Brochu continued to aid the Ramblers through the second day with a final-round score of 77 strokes, scoring her highest career finish yet and ending the invitational in ninth place individually with a 230 (74-79-77). 

Johnston said she was proud of Brochu’s performance and that it was a testament to her hard work.  

“The bright spot of the weekend was Jolie’s performance,” Johnston said. “She’s been one of our most consistent and steady performers these past few weeks and it’s great to see her hard work and perseverance rewarded with her first career top-10 finish.”

Behind Brochu on the second day were Reisinger and Durkin, who tied for 38th place with a 241, (84-77-80) and (81-77-83), respectively. Thielbar ended in 60th place with a 249 (90-79-80) while Psuik finished with her lowest score of the tournament, a 78 led by a hole-out eagle on the far-four 17th hole. 

Meier led the Ramblers with a 244 (80-84-80), tying her with her low-score of the week and placing 49th. Clark placed 69th with a 253 (81-86-86) and Gatti placed 75th with a 261 (88-86-87). 

North Dakota State University took home the team victory with a combined score of 914 (304-299-311). The lowest scorer of the invitational was California Baptist first-year Pusanisa Ekkantrong with an overall score of 222 (81-67-74). 

Johnston said in the press release the team knows they need to improve and need to focus on ending the fall season on a high moving forward. 

The Ramblers will play next at the Dayton Flyer Invitational Oct. 16-17, ending the fall season in Kettering, Ohio. 

Zach Walsh leads Ramblers to 17th place at Badger Invitational

Men’s golf traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to participate in the Badger Invitational Oct. 1 and 2. The Ramblers finished in 17th out of 18 teams by the end of the second day with a total of 898 strokes (308-288-302).

The team was led by the efforts of graduate student Zach Walsh, who helped the Ramblers to card 308 strokes in the first round, five strokes behind the University of Maryland, who were in 17th with 303. 

Walsh fired seven birdies to rally to a one-under-par at 71, leaving him in a tie for 21st place. Behind him was second-year Sebastian Kasun, who placed in 58th with a three-over-par 75. First-year Jackson Overton carded a 79 in his first collegiate appearance. 

Second-years Charlie Kulwin and Ryan Walsh finished the day back-to-back on the leaderboard in 89th and 90th with 83 and 84 strokes, respectively. 

The team combined to shoot an even-par score of 288 on day two, totaling 30 strokes better than their score from the first round and pulling them ahead of Maryland on the leaderboard into 17th place. 

In his second-ever collegiate round, Overton led the team with a one-under-par 71. Zach Walsh and Ryan Walsh each fired even-par 72s, with Ryan Walsh dropping 12 strokes off his first round score. Kasun and Kulwin tied at 73.

The Ramblers finished the final round with a score of 302 and left Madison with a total of 898 strokes (308-288-302).

Head coach Erik Hoops said in a press release from the university that he wished the team had done better from the first round. 

“This is one of the stronger fields we’ve competed with for a while and we showed we have the ability to play right along with them with some of our better rounds this week,” Hoops said. “Unfortunately, we had some uncharacteristically poor rounds on Sunday or we would’ve been right there with this field.”

Zach Walsh finished the invitational with a 216 (71-72-73) and placed 30th. He was followed by Kausn, who finished with 225 (75-73-77) while Ryan Walsh (84-72-73) and Overton (79-71-79) tied for 74th with 229. Kulwin finished with a 235 (83-73-79) and second-year Zach Mulhearn ended with 242 (72-82-85), placing 24th overall. 

Hoops said he hopes the team takes away lessons learned from this invitational and continues to look to Zach Walsh for help. 

“We’re a young team and we’re going to take away a lot from this week,” Hoops said. “Zach continues to be a great leader for us. He’s doing all the right things and being a great mentor to the underclassmen. We got a week to fix up some stuff and we’ll be ready for one of our favorite events in Dayton.”

Men’s golf will play next at the Dayton Flyer Invitational Oct. 16 and 17 in Dayton, Ohio. 

Featured image courtesy of Loyola Athletics