OSUMG: Buckeyes 4th at Robert Kepler Intercollegiate
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
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(Team photo and tournament information courtesy of Ohio State Athletic Department.)
(Statistics courtesy of golfstat.com)
In league with extraordinary gentlemen.
The Buckeyes returned home from Texas to host the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate on the OSU Scarlet Course. The course will play to 7,455 yards and a par 71.
(That’s a really long length golf course, especially for a par of 71). It has a
USGA course rating of 76.1 and a slope of 142.
(This is a tough golf course. The highest slope rating assigned by the USGA is 155. With a rating of 142, the Scarlet Course is a very tough track. By comparison, my “home” course has a slope/rating of 72/123. Not even close in difficulty)
The format is ‘play five count four’, where a school fields 5 players, and the low 4 scores for each round are counted. Teams can also enter players in the Individual status. Usually, the the event is contested over three rounds (54 holes). However, per www.
ohiostatebuckeyes.com:
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Forecasted inclement weather for Columbus over the weekend has altered the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate competition schedule. The 46th running of the Kepler has been
shortened to 36 holes total splits between a pair of 10:30 a.m. ET shotgun starts on Saturday (Apr. 9) and Sunday (Apr. 10). Live scoring will be available at
GolfStat.com.
This event has a sixteen team field: Bowling Green, Dayton, Eastern Michigan, No. 46 Kent State, Liberty, Maryland, Michigan, No. 49 Michigan State, Northwestern,
Ohio State, No. 29 Penn State, Southern Illinois, No. 37 UAB, No. 31 UNLV, West Virginia, Wright State
(The rankings are Golfstat Top-50 rankings)
The participating team players:
Clark Engle,
Tee-k Kelly, Will Grimmer, Caleb Ramirez and
Max Rosenthal. Participating as Individuals were:
Sean Busch,
Addison Coll,
Grant Weaver and
Josh Wick.
I love that Coaches Moseley and Smith set the lineup the way they did. This is Rosenthal’s first start of the season, and this is a fine “hat tip” to the red-shirt junior. Well done, coaches.
Overall
The Buckeyes shot a team score of 594 (+26) which earned them 4th place. There is an adage that it is difficult for a golfer to put together back-to-back low scoring rounds. This was the case for most of the competitors this weekend, including Ohio State. In the first round, everyone (all nine Buckeyes, actually) shot well, particularly considering the weather conditions. In the second round, (almost) everyone’s score drifted up a few strokes.
This higher score in the 2nd round was not the result of any Epic Collapses. Except for Josh, everyone’s score was a bit higher on the second day; not by much, but when the team scores were aggregated, it did add up.
Ohio State was led by Josh Wick’s 145 (+3) which placed him in a tie for 4th place in the field of 84 golfers. Congratulations to Josh, that is impressive scoring.
Player round by round scores, below:
Robert Kepler Rd 1 Rd 2 Total To Par
Team 291 303 594 26
Clark Engle 73 76 149 7
Tee-k Kelly 71 77 148 6
Will Grimmer 74 75 149 7
Caleb Ramirez 76 78 154 12
Max Rosenthal 73 75 148 6
Sean Busch (I) 75 77 152 10
Addison Coll (I) 75 76 151 9
Grant Weaver (I) 73 76 149 7
Josh Wick (I) 73 72 145 3
7 19 26
First Round
After a 4 hour weather-related delay, the tournament finally got underway. The Buckeyes shot a team score of 291 (+7) to finish in 2nd place in the 16 team field. They trailed leader UNLV by 2 strokes. Coaches Moseley and Smith had to be satisfied with the total team effort; all nine of the Buckeyes who teed it up shot in the low 70’s; none higher than a score of 76. This is remarkably good scoring, since even though the course at 7,455 yards is very long, it played even longer on Saturday due to the cold weather. Per Frank Thomas of
Franklygolf.com:
As the temperature decreases the air become more dense and the drag on the ball is greater but so is the lift force for a specific spin rate. The decrease in distance, because of a decrease in air temperature alone, is about 2 yards of carry and a little more in total distance for every 10 ° F change.
So from 75 °F to 35 °F you can expect about 8 yards less carry and about 10 yards less in total distance – unless the ball lands on a frozen patch of ground — because of air temperature. Add to this the effects on the ball — if you haven’t been keeping it in an insulated pouch – which will be a couple of yards and again add what your body is not normally capable of doing at room temperature, which varies by body type, flexibility and mind set for being out there.
You are looking at a least an extra club for your irons and up to fifteen yards for your driver.
Since Saturday’s temps were in low-mid 30’s, you’ll get the idea on ball performance. OK, that takes care of your physics problem of the day; now on to the players. The Buckeyes were led by
Tee-k Kelly 71 (E),
Clark Engle 73 (+2) and making his first start of the season,
Max Rosenthal 73 (+1).
Will Grimmer contributed to the team score with a 74 (+3) and
Caleb Ramirez shot a 76 (+5).
Tee-k was in 3rd place (84 golfers) and Clark, Max, Grant and Josh sat T-9 (with 10 other players). The top of the leaderboard was fairly cozy at the end of the round.
In Individual play,
Grant Weaver shot a 73 (+2),
Josh Wick 73 (+2),
Addison Coll 74 (+3) and
Sean Busch 75 (+3).
Tee-K began his round with 6 consecutive pars, clustered the next five holes with 2 birdies / 2 bogeys, then closed with 6 consecutive pars.
Clark had a stretch of 6 consecutive pars on his back nine, and interspersed his round with 1 birdie / 3 bogeys.
Max made good use of his first start and provided some fireworks along the way. Max began his round on the 4th hole and after nine holes (2 birdies) stood at -1. For his inaugural event of the year, that’s a “veteran” start. His closing nine holes were a bit more adventuresome with 2 double bogeys, but he also rang up 2 birdies to keep his round well in control.
Will provided steady play with 1 birdie / 3 bogeys and a lot of pars. Nothing thrilling, but “thrilling” wasn’t needed, just a lot of pars.
Caleb had his round at +1 through 11 holes, but a double bogey on the tough 473 yard par-4, 14th (hardest hole of the round), took the edge off his otherwise solid round.
Grant, as did the other OSU Individual contestants, began his round on the 18th hole. He bogeyed his 4th hole, then recorded
13 consecutive pars before bogeying his last hole. That’s a very impressive run on scoring.
Josh’s was even par through his first eight holes, bogeyed his next two holes, then closed his final eight holes in even par for a solid 73.
Sean provided some excitement during his round. He had 2 birdies in his first six holes to stand at -1. His middle six holes had 2 bogeys and a double bogey, so that didn’t help. His final six holes had a double bogey (again, not helpful) and 2 birdies (very helpful!) to allow him to coast in to a 75.
Addison was even par through five holes, then inserted a birdie (hole #9) among several bogeys enroute to his 75.
For the round, the nine Buckeyes had 18 birdies, 109 pars, 29 bogeys and 6 double bogeys. This was a good opening round, especially one played under “coolish” temperatures. Now, it’s time to get warm and prepare for the 2nd round…
Second Round
Five of the top seven teams scored higher in the second round than they did in their first round. Unfortunately, Ohio State scored a little higher than their closest competitors and slipped two positions. The Buckeyes shot a team total 303 (+19). Despite dropping two positions, they finished only 3 strokes out of 2nd place. The difference as I see it? In the first round, Ohio State
team had 15 bogeys. In the 2nd round they had 29 bogeys. They weren’t off by much, just enough for ti to take a cumulative toll.
The Buckeyes were led by
Max Rosenthal 75 (+4) and
Will Grimmer 74 (+4).
Clark Engle 76 (+5) and
Tee-K Kelly 77 (+6) contributed to the team score.
Caleb Ramirez shot a 78 (+7).
In Individual play,
Josh Wick shot a 72 (+1),
Grant Weaver shot a 76 (+5),
Addison Coll 76 (+5) and
Sean Busch 77 (+6).
Tee-K was +1 through 9 holes, but but struggled home with 4 bogeys on his back 9.
Clark was +2 after 9 holes, but recorded 5 bogeys (and 2 birdies) on his back 9.
Max started on the 2nd hole and was even par through eight holes. However, the next eight holes were played in +4 par. Max’s
4 birdies were more than any other Buckeye on Sunday.
Will offset his double bogey with 2 birdies, but his 4 bogeys pushed his score to the mid-70’s.
Caleb double bogeyed his third hole and had a bogey-littered round. he did recover to play his last four holes in even par.
Grant, as did the other OSU Individual contestants, began his round on the 18th hole. He bogeyed four of his first nine holes, had a mid-round stretch of five holes where he was
-2, then bogeyed three of his last four holes.
Josh had far and away the best scoring round of the day for the Buckeyes. His 1 birdie / 2 bogeys were the only “non-par” scored on a very clean round.
Sean birdied the long (618 yard) par-5 6th hole, but couldn’t make up for 7 bogeys.
Addison was even par through nine holes, but 4 bogeys, a double bogey and a birdie wouldn’t let him maintain his front 9 momentum.
For the round, the nine Buckeyes had 17 birdies, 91 pars, 49 bogeys and 5 double bogeys.
Thoughts
The team trend of “good 1st, so-so 2nd, great 3rd” may have been in play this weekend; unfortunately, with only two rounds scheduled, we never had a chance for their great closing round. This was a bittersweet event; the 2nd round scores caused them to lose two positions in the standings, but they were still only three strokes out of 2nd place.
On the positive side, none of the nine Buckeyes that took to the course had a blow up round. It was all death by a thousand cuts, or more accurately, too many bogeys. More importantly, with Max Rosenthal’s showing, I think the bench just got a bit deeper for coaches Moseley and Smith. To brighten the day a bit more, Max had 8 of Ohio State’s team 20 birdies. Not bad for an inaugural event…
Sifting through the chaff, here is a “what happened” snap-shot. They played the par 3’s ‘sort of OK’l, scoring an average 3.28 (+11) ranking them 7th. They played the par 4’s very well, to an average of 4.25 per hole, +27 to par, ranking them 3rd. They played the par 5’s to an average of 5.00 per hole, even par, ranking T-6th.
In terms of
team “to par” scoring, Ohio State recorded 109 pars, placing them in 5th position in that measure. They recorded 20 birdies, placing them
1st.
Up Next
The OSUMG team will head to West Lafayette, IN next week for the Boilermaker Invitational. The event runs April 16th-17th.
Go Buckeyes!
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