Sunshine State struggles
By Aaron Thomas, Staff Writer
Towson finished tenth overall after two rounds of golf at the Lonnie Barton Invitational in Daytona Beach, Florida last week.
Head Coach Mike Larkin was not impressed with the team’s performance.
“I didn’t think the guys were prepared as well as they needed to be,” Larkin said. “Course management and putting are two easy fixes that could have put us near the top of the leaderboard.”
After the first round, Towson was tied for seventh out of 21 schools.
Sophomore Kobdech Rodrat led the way for the Tigers after day one, shooting a four-over 76 and notching four birdies. Rodrat was tied for 23rd overall while freshman Justin Griffith was tied for 30th overall after shooting a five-over 77 with two birdies on the eighth and 16th holes.
Newcomers sophomore Derek Gold and freshman Hayden Rousselle each carded six-over 78 in their first tournaments. Gold chipped in four birdies while Rousselle made three.
In the final round, Towson shot a score of 319 to finish with a score of 628 (+52) over two rounds. Senior Doug Grem and Rousselle led the Tigers shooting a six-over 78. Rousselle was the top individual scorer for Towson as he tied 41st overall (+12).
Grem made birdies on the ninth, 14th, 16th and 17th holes. Griffith finished with a seven-over 79.
“Right now, our main focus is putting,” Larkin said. “After breaking down the stats, we saw that with a specific change in our putting as a team, we would have jumped to second place in Arizona and fourth in Florida, without changing anything else.”
The Tigers will be back on the course when the team participates in the Cape Fear National Intercollegiate tournament hosted by Appalachian State on Sunday, March 17 and Monday, March 18 in Leland, North Carolina.
“We’ll spend a lot of time when we get to Cape Fear working specifically on that drill to get back to where we need to be,” Larkin said.