The GW golf team finished a whirlwind tour of the Midwest and the Northeast Monday with a ninth-place finish at the Temple Invitational and a 12th-place finish at the Kroger Xavier Invitational.
After playing 54 holes at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship in Canonsburg, Pa. April 12-14, the Colonial golfers traveled to Oxford, Pa. for a two-day event April 17-18 and to Loveland, Ohio for a one-day tournament April 20. By the time Monday rolled around, GW had played 126 holes of competitive golf in eight days.
While the Colonials still struggled relative to the fields of the two tournaments, they did post better scores as the weekend progressed.
“We played better much better this weekend than we did at A-10s,” GW head coach Scott Allen said. “It wasn’t really anything to write home about, but I was really proud of the guys who hung in there through the long week.”
GW wrapped up the weekend by finishing 12th (623) at the 36-hole event held at O’Bannon Golf Club and hosted by Xavier, which won its own invitational with a score of 578.
GW shot 316 in the first round behind freshmen Gavin Parsons (77) and Ryan Day (78). The Colonials improved in the second round to shoot their best collective score of the past week, a 307, behind four sub-80 performances. Parsons, who finished in a tie for 26th place overall, led the team once again by firing a 74.
“We’re kind of inexperienced and in the late rounds we’ve been sort of fading away,” Parsons said of the team, which regularly starts four freshmen. “But it seems like we’re learning and getting stronger the more we play.”
GW finished ninth of 13 teams with a score of 651 at the Temple Invitational held at Wyncote Country Club, well behind the tournament winner, Seton Hall University (602). The Colonials shot 325 and 326 in the two-day event, and only one of their golfers – freshman Michael Goldman – broke 80 on either day. Goldman came in 24th place overall, GW’s highest finisher.
The Colonials are back in action Saturday when they play in the Penn State University-Rutherford Intercollegiate Tournament held in University Park, Pa.
