OSUMG: Buckeyes Surge in Final Round @ Tiger Invitational
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
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The Buckeyes began their Spring schedule of the 2015-2016 this week by traveling to Opelika, AL for the
Tiger Invitational tournament, played at the Grand National Lake Course. The 54 hole event, played Sunday through Tuesday, was was contested on a course that played at 7,149 yards to a par of 72.
The format was ‘play five count four’, where a school fields 5 players, and the low 4 scores for each round are counted. Eighteen teams (17 schools) participated in this event. Host school (Auburn) entered two teams.
The participating players participating were:
Will Grimmer,
Clark Engle,
Addison Coll,
Grant Weaver and
Tee-K Kelly. Participating as the Individual was
Sean Busch.
Overall
The Buckeyes rode a strong final round (even par) to improve four positions to finish in 9th place, with a team total of 896 (+32).
The
Buckeyes were paced by Will Grimmer 216 (+8). Will’s score was good enough to place 8th in the 75 player field. His four “team mates” were bunched in scoring; Addison Coll 229 (+13), Grant Weaver 230 (+14), Tee-K Kelly 231 (+15) and Clark Engle 233 (+17). In the Individual category, Sean Busch shot a 238 (+22).
This was an encouraging finish. After meandering around to the tune of +32 for the first two rounds, this finishing round showed a great capacity to close out a tournament. This 3rd round was exactly the type of performance the team needed to begin their Spring Season
Player round by round scores, below:
Tiger Invitational 72 72 72 864
Par 72 Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Total To Par
Team 303 305 288 896 32
Will Grimmer 72 74 70 216 0
Clark Engle 84 74 75 233 17
Addison Coll 73 79 77 229 13
Grant Weaver 78 78 74 230 14
Tee-K Kelly 80 82 69 231 15
Sean Busch (I) 75 74 78 227 227
First Round
The Buckeyes got off to a terrible start to their first round, shot a team score of 303 (+15), placing them in T-11th place. The Buckeyes were led by
Will Grimmer with a 72 (E) and
Addison Coll 73 (+1).
Grant Weaver chipped in a 78 (+6).
Tee-k Kelly was the 4th team score at 80 (+8) since
Clark Engle 84 (+12) didn’t play well. As an Individual,
Sean Busch shot a 75 (+3). The average score for the round was 75.8, so the course was playing fairly tough.
Will was very steady with a 2 birdie-2 bogey round.
Addison nearly matched him with 1 birdie – 2 bogeys. So far, so good; not a lot of drama in the round.
Grant livened things up a bit with 2 birdies, 6 bogeys and a double bogey.
Tee-k had 2 birdies and a triple bogey – a little too much excitement.
Clark had a thrill ride with an
eagle, 2 double bogeys and a quadruple bogey. That was an interesting looking score card. Sean had a half dozen bogeys, but had a stretch on the front nine where he birdied three of four holes. That’s quite a run..
One hole that killed OSU was the 197 yard, par-3 3rd hole. From the tee box, there is water along the left side and pot bunkers (deep bunkers) to the right of the green. There is no margin for error with your tee shot. Clark and Tee-k were a combined 7 over par on this hole. The 3rd hole was the toughest hole on the course.
Not a good start for the tournament, but they still can place in top-10.
Second Round
Well, after the 2nd round, they can kiss a Top 10 finish goodbye. The Buckeyes shot a team total 305 (+17), sliding them down two spots into T-13th place after this round. The Buckeyes were led by
Will Grimmer and
Clark Engle, both shooting 74’s (+2).
Grant Weaver 78 (+6) and
Addison Coll (79 (+7) contributed to the team scoring.
Tee-K Kelly stumbled around with an 82 (+10).
Sean Busch, playing as an individual, shot a very good 74 (+2).
Will had 5 birdies / 2 double bogeys.
Clark improved his score by 10 strokes. Although he had 2 double bogeys, he countered with 3 birdies. That is a good bounce-back round.
Addison couldn’t get any traction. He had an 11 hole stretch that comprised of 9 bogeys and 2 birdies. Eleven holes without a par is a unique experience.
Grant, not to be outdone (by much), had a 9 hole stretch with no pars.
Tee-k had his problems. He had 2 birdies /2 double bogeys /slew of bogeys.
(OK, Tee-k, exhale, go for a walk, settle down. You’re way better than this.) Meanwhile in Individual play,
Sean used an eagle on the 522 yard par-5 12th hole to help his cause by quite a bit.
Looking to the 3rd round, it appears that Will and Sean kept their mojo, Clark may have found his, Addison and Grant need to clean up a few things and Tee-K may need to get his clubs re-gripped. On to the 3rd round…
Third Round
The world is full of surprises! The Buckeyes shot a team 3rd round score of 288 (E) to move them up four spots into the 9th position. The Buckeyes were led by
Tee-K Kelly 69 (-3), and
Will Grimmer 70 (-2).
Grant Weaver 74 (+2) and
Clark Engle 75 (+3) counted towards the team score.
Addison Coll shot a 77 (+5), which wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t in the low-four for the team score. As an Individual,
Sean Busch shot a 78 (+6).
The Buckeyes started on the back 9 and pretty much got their mojo back Tuesday.
Tee-k was -1 at the turn, then had a seven hole stretch where he was 4-under par, based on an eagle and two birdies.
(He had a 15 hole stretch where he was 6-under par! Good god).
Will was 3-under at the turn, then played his back nine in 1-over
(He had a double bogey, but 5 birdies makes you feel a lot better)..
Grant was 1-under at the turn and 3-over on his back nine.
(With 3 birdies/5 bogies, this round was under control).
Clark was even par on his front nine, stumbled with two double bogeys on #2/#3, then played the remaining six holes in 1-under.
(That’s a nice recovery).
Addison struggled on his first two holes, going 4-over par, then stabilized his round by playing the next 16 holes in 1-over par.
(Once he got it figured out, he was pretty much on auto-pilot). Starting on hole #1, Sean struggled to a 40 on the front side, then eased to the clubhouse with a 38 on the back side.
(He got beat up a bit with doubles on #7/#8, but played the closing seven holes in even par. A good finish).
Thoughts
As opening events are wont to do, this one was a mixed bag. Will Grimmer was excellent for all three rounds. Clark Engle had a horrible first day, but collected himself for two solid days of play. Addison Coll was excellent in his 1st round, then drifted a bit in his final two rounds. In contrast, Grant Weaver drifted in his first two rounds, then had a a great final round.
Tee-k Kelly, to put it mildly, “under-performed” in his first two rounds. Then he had a stunning under-par 3rd round. That is clutch play by an upperclassman when it was needed.
(I’m glad he took my advice after the 2nd round and re-gripped his clubs. OK, he probably didn’t…) .Sean Busch had two very good opening rounds, then a ‘meh’ final round. As an Individual, it did not impact the team scoring, but it has to be reassuring to Coach Moseley and Coach Smith that they can put Sean out on the course and not worry about him.
Sifting through the chaff, here is a “what happened” snap-shot. They didn’t play the par 3’s too well, scoring an average 3.45 (+27) ranking them 13th. The 197 yard 3rd hole was the ‘scene of the crime’ for the Buckeyes; they (all 6 players) were +15 on this hole alone. .. They played the par 4’s to an average of 4.30 per hole, +45 to par, ranking them 12th. They played the par 5’s to an average of 4.78 per hole, a total of -13 to par, ranking 6th.
In terms of “to par” scoring, Ohio State recorded 147 pars, placing them in 9th position in that measure. They recorded 40 birdies, placing them 11th. They scored 2 eagles, placing them tied for fort place. Note: this is “team” statistics, so Sean’s eagle and 6 birdies are not included.
The team started slowly in the 1st round, improved. Had spurts of improvement in the 2nd round, and brought it all together in the 3rd round. This was a good event to build for the rest of the Spring. The next couple months are going to be fun.
The OSUMG team will tee it up again in competition March 21-22 in San Antonio, TX for The Lone Star Invitational.
Go Buckeyes!
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