Cold, Rainy Conditions Lead to High Scores for Golfers
A below freezing wind chill and constant precipitation severely
hampered The College of Wooster golf team's second day scores at the Ohio
Wesleyan University Strimer Invitational on Sunday (April 1), as Wooster
shot a team round of 353 - 38 more shots than its effort on Saturday.
"It was possibly the most difficult conditions that I've seen in
the five years I've coached," commented Scot head coach Rich Danch. "It
started out in a steady rain and 30-some degrees. It turned to snow, then
to sleet, and then back to rain again. The wind chill must have been in the
high 20s."
Wooster's final score of 668 put it in 10th-place in the 14-team
field, while the tournament champion was Muskingum College (296-322=618),
which barely edged out Otterbein College (299-320=619) and Ohio Wesleyan
University (298-325=623).
Heidelberg College came in fourth (312-324=636), followed by
Baldwin-Wallace College (312-326=638), Olivet College (314-325=639),
Anderson University (317-342=659), Denison University (331-330=661), John
Carroll University (324-339=663), and the Scots.
Wooster beat out Wabash College (334-354=688), Manchester College
(332-368=700), Hiram College (383-410=793), and Kenyon College, which did
not complete the second round.
Individually, sophomore Ryan Flynn led the Scots on day two with an
81, only one shot more than his first-day round of 80, giving him a total
of 161 and tying for 26th overall. Just ahead of Flynn was senior Nick
Balcken, who fired scores of 75-84=159, good enough for a 17th-place tie.
Wooster sophomore Graham Binder had a career-high 78 on Saturday,
but followed that up with a 94 in the tough conditions for a total of 169
and a tie for 58th. Classmate Jon Pintado carded 82-94=176, tying for 63rd,
while Matt Elliott, another sophomore, shot an uncharacteristic 84-94=178
and came in 66th.
Danch is looking forward to putting this weekend behind him and the
team, as the Scots are next scheduled to compete in the annual Kenyon
College Cup Invitational at Apple Valley Golf Course in Howard, Ohio, on
Saturday (April 7) and Sunday (April 8).
"We'll go on to Kenyon next weekend and hope we're better and the
weather's better," he concluded.
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