As the fall season ushered in colder weather, the golf team struggled to finish within the top half of the leaderboard at the Georgetown Intercollegiate in Beallsville, Maryland.
The Owls, with a score of 54-over par, finished seventh out of 11 teams at the par-71 Members Club at Four Streams.
The Owls continued their theme of slow starts on Monday and Tuesday. For the second tournament in a row, Temple had its highest score in the first round.
“[Monday] was a very difficult day to play golf,” coach Brian Quinn said. “The conditions were extremely windy and cold. We obviously didn’t play very well.”
Freshmen Dawson Anders and Liam McGrath and juniors Trey Wren and Sam Soeth made the lineup in Temple’s previous tournament, the Firestone Invitational on Oct. 2 and 3 in Ohio. All of them were in the lineup in Maryland. Redshirt junior John Barone took the final spot in the five-man lineup, and junior Gary McCabe competed as an individual.
Anders and Soeth both got off to slow starts. Anders shot 86 through the first 18 holes, and Soeth shot 82.
McGrath had the best performance through the first 36 holes on Monday out of Temple’s golfers. He carded 5-over 76 and 4-over 75 to finish the first day tied for 14th.
“Liam McGrath played pretty well on the first day,” Quinn said. “With the weather being the way that it was, I was extremely proud of him.”
In previous tournaments, Quinn said poor discipline and mental mistakes caused high scores. The trend continued this week.
“We need to start getting the ball in the hole way faster,” Quinn said. “They are just making way too many mental mistakes out there, and the kids are just playing very undisciplined.”
The team improved on the second day. Soeth, Anders and Barone all finished with 2-over 73s. Their scores and a 76 from Wren helped the team move up from eighth to seventh.
“We had a long chat tonight about our mistakes,” Quinn said. “Hopefully going forward we are going to see some progress.”
“We just need our big guns, John and Trey, to really step up,” Quinn said.
The team has a week before its next tournament, the Visit Stockton Pacific Invite in Stockton, California. Quinn is optimistic it won’t be long until the team hits its stride.
“We certainly have the talent and a lot of ability,” Quinn said. “We just have to get everyone clicking at the same time.”
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