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Conditions change for Tigers
10/7/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
The Fort Hays State University men's golf team shot a 307 on Monday in the first day of competition at the Fort Hays Invitational at Smoky Hill Country Club.
The Tigers were one shot back of second place among Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association schools, trailing 306 posted by Missouri Southern State University and Missouri Western State University.
University of Central Missouri had distanced itself from the field with 287, 18 shots better than any squad. Before Tuesday's play, Tiger second-year head coach Brad Jordan told his team "all I want is second place."
Instead, hurt by a changing wind and cold conditions, the Tigers fired a 319, 12 shots worse than Monday. The 626 culminative score finished fifth among MIAA schools, sixth overall in the 12-team field.
"I think everybody on the team would say they were disappointed with how it went over all," Jordan said. "... The guys that I wanted to beat, we beat, but we didn't beat them all."
Central Missouri won the tournament with a 595, followed by University of Nebraska-Kearney (609), a non-conference team. Missouri Southern (612), Washburn University (615) and Missouri Western (621) rounded out the top five.
The Tigers tied Colorado School of Mines from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and defeated four schools, including three conference teams. The Fort Hays 'B' team finished last with a 653.
"I still don't think we have played nearly to our potential," Jordan said.
Washburn's Dustin Yeager won a three-way playoff for medalist honors with a 145. He earned the victory on the fourth playoff hole over Missouri Southern's Severiano Smith.
The Tigers had no golfer in the top 20. Junior Kevin Quinley, sophomore Markus Hilger and junior David George all fired a 156 to tie for 23rd. Sophomore Aaron Mapel had a 161 and tied for 46th, while junior Adam Gorjiyan tied for 57th with a 164.
"Maybe we take a few too many chances," Jordan said.
"I set up the pins myself. A lot of pins, if you missed them just barely, it was very penal. So I was hoping that we would be smarter than that and not go for the pins, but we went anyway. We just got to talk about course management, I guess, a little bit more."
On Monday, the wind came in from the south, a favorable wind on the course. On Tuesday, the wind changed to the north. Every team shot the same worse on Day 2, except for Kearney, which improved by one shot. Multiple teams had big differentials between the two rounds, including Central (21 worse), Fort Hays (12 worse), Mines (16 worse) and Dodge City Community College (27 worse).
"Our course plays real well from the south, it plays much easier," Jordan said. "Today, the wind completely flipped around from the north and that is what makes the scores go up more than anything is it's a lot tougher from the north.Plus it was considerably winder and much, much colder. (Tuesday) morning, I don't know what the temperature was, but it would cut right through you."
On Monday, the par-4 ninth hole was one of the toughest holes with the pin placement tucked near the water. Players had to hit directly into the wind and averaged 5.1 shots, more than a stroke over par. On Tuesday, the hole was with the wind and everyone had 100 yards or less on their second shots. Tuesday, the south wind made holes 5,6 and 13 much harder. Fletcher Harder from Pittsburg State University hit a ball in the tree and had to climb up to retrieve his ball.
"The hardest holes on the course plays directly into the north win," Jordan said. "They don't have so much water, but they have out-of-bounds and trees."
The difficulty hurt Fort Hays and eventually yielded a disappointing finish.
"We got sixth," Jordan said. "We were sure hoping we would get second, that is what I was after."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| TS | 04/06 | Emporia State | L 8-1 |
| SB | 03/30 | Panhandle State | W 10-2 (5 inn.) |
| SB | 03/30 | Panhandle State | W 13-3 (5 inn.) |
| BB | 03/30 | Washburn | W 3-1 |
| BB | 03/30 | Washburn | W 3-1 |
| TS | 03/23 | Kansas Wesleyan | L 6-3 |
| BB | 03/23 | Metro State | W 20-8 |
| BB | 03/23 | Metro State | W 6-5 |
| SB | 03/19 | Nebraska-Omaha | L 4-2 |
| SB | 03/19 | Truman State | W 4-1 |
| SB | 03/18 | Mo. Western | L 6-2 |
| BB | 03/17 | Missouri S&T | W 2-1 (10) |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 6-1 |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 8-1 |
| BB | 03/16 | Misosuri S&T | L 13-4 |
| MB | 03/14 | Central Missouri | L 80-73 |
| BB | 3/13 | NW Missouri | W 13-10 |
| BB | 03/13 | NW Missouri | W 4-3 |
| MB | 03/13 | Central Oklahoma | W 80-64 |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |