Temple men’s golf did not have an impressive showing at the River Run Collegiate Tournament in Davidson, North Carolina on Monday and Tuesday.
The Owls’ decision-making coupled with a poor short game was the cause of the team’s misfortune this time around, coach Brian Quinn said. Temple tied for eighth place at the end of the second round and eventually dropped to eleventh at the conclusion of the tournament.
“They just got going in the wrong direction and couldn’t get out of it,” Quinn said.
The Owls started off strong and tied for third after the first round, but fell short in the second and third rounds on Tuesday.
“We’re just a better team than that, as young as we are,” Quinn said. “[We made] too many mental mistakes, too many huge numbers.”
Sophomore Conor McGrath led the way for the Owls throughout the two days. He shot a one-over 73 in the first round, a two-over 74 in the second and a four-over 76 in the third to finish the tournament tied for 25th.
Freshman Graham Chase put up the second-best scores for Temple, shooting a one-over 73 in the first round and a three-over 75 in the second round. Chase closed out the tournament shooting a seven-over 79 in the third round, which left him tied for 39th.
Junior Dawson Anders shot a two-under 70 in the first round Monday morning. Anders’ game declined from there, as he shot a five-over 77 later that afternoon in the second round and finished the third shooting a ten-over 82. Anders finished the tournament tied for 50th.
Senior Liam McGrath shot a three-over 75 in the first round, followed by a nine-over 81 in the second and a two-over 74 in the third. McGrath finished with a 14-over 230 composite score, tying for 55th.
James Madison University took the top spot in the tournament after earning a composite score of 849. Dukes senior Walker Cress took home top golfer honors after he shot a nine-under 207 for the tournament.
Quinn believes the Owls showed their age throughout the outing in terms of inexperience going against top tier teams.
“Some kids tried a little too hard to finish at the end and kinda got in their own way,” Quinn said.
Quinn believes the team will be playing well before the end of the year, he said.
“I gotta do a better job as a coach to get them to relax and make them feel relaxed as possible, even more so because this game’s tough,” Quinn said. “You put too much pressure on yourself, not a lot of good things can happen.”
The Owls will next compete at the Firestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio Sept. 30-Oct. 1.
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