This post was written by Hatchet reporter Cameron Waggener.
The start to the men’s fall golf season began with a bang, but soon ended woefully on Monday in Newport, R.I.
Senior Graham Lawyer, juniors Jack Persons and Jonathan Dresnick, sophomore Michael Helton and freshman Lucas Farmer accompanied first-year head coach Chuck Scheinost to New England for the 20th annual Adams Cup, but finished a disappointing 13th out of 16 teams with a final score of 944 (310-313-321).
Teeing off at the fifth hole of his short collegiate career during Monday’s opening round, Farmer struck his 7 iron perfectly and watched from the tee box as his ball dropped straight down into the hole.
“It was just a pretty good shot and it went in,” Farmer said of his third career ace.
Sometimes the game of golf is as simple as that. However, throughout the rest of the tournament, the game of golf would not be that simple for the Colonials.
While Farmer’s 1-under score of 71 kept GW in the hunt after the first round, inconsistency from veteran players through the second and third rounds dismantled GW’s tournament hopes.
Each of the other four Colonials posted above +20 final scores combined over the three rounds. Lawyer’s final score of +26 was just behind Persons’ +23 and Helton’s +25, who finished T65th, T57th and T68th, respectively. Dresnick rounded out the Colonials high scoring with a +36, T84th, in the scorebook after a third round 16-over-par 87.
UCF won its fourth consecutive Adams Cup, posting a team score of 856 (273-292-291), while Bethune-Cookman’s Ryan Fricker took home the Tom Drennan Trophy as the tournament’s individual medalist. He finished with a score 11-under par (67-66-72=205).
Aside from the problems GW was having with the course’s firm greens, Scheinost said the biggest problem was just not being ready.
“Normally most college golf programs come back fresh and ready to go. A lot of our guys did internships over the course of the summer,” Scheinost said. “It takes a little while to get back into it.”
The surprising play of the freshman Farmer, however, delighted Scheinost who walked with the rookie throughout most of the first day. Scheinost said Farmer did a good job of sticking to the game plan they formed in the practice round. Farmer’s “spirit and competitiveness,” Scheinost added, could boost him to the level of Persons’ record-breaking season as a freshman two years ago.
Going into the VCU Shootout next week, GW will use a few new strategies, Scheinost said.
“We are focused on our play 120 yards and in, and we have to become good wedge players,” he said.
While some players may take this poor performance grimly, Scheinost believes that “as these guys get a comfort level with the new system,” and “focus on doing things the right way,” a winning tradition will resurface as the season rolls along.
