It was a solid finish for the UW men’s golf team on the final day of the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate tournament.
The Badgers, in 15th place after the first two rounds, were able to compete on a day where the wind just wouldn’t let up, and finished with the seventh-lowest score in the third round. UW climbed from 15th place up to 11th place overall.
A third round score of a 15-over-par 303 was the highest of the three rounds for Wisconsin (301, 298), but the weather proved to be the difference for the rest of the field and helped UW move up in the rankings.
“There were times where the wind was gusting at over 30 miles per hour on a completely open course,” junior Chris Meyer said. “But we just tried to have a solid round as a team and keep on moving up.”
Auburn was at the top of the leaderboard after the third and final day, as they finished at 10-under par for the tournament even after a six-over-par 294 in the third round.
Virginia was the only other school to finish under par, as they were nine strokes behind the leader at the conclusion of the tournament.
With freshman Thomas O’ Bryan leading the way the first round, and then Meyer, a junior, in the second round, the Badgers had their third different player finish with the lowest score in a round for the team.
Sophomore Zachary Balit battled the tenacious weather and shot an even-par 72 in the third round. Anthony Aicher was close behind and finished with a two-over-par 74.
While UW had a different leader in each round, the final scores of each player were very close as the Badgers got solid contributions from nearly every member of the team.
“All in all, guys played pretty well and overall did some really good things“, Meyer said. “Everyone stepped at some point which was nice and we have a lot to look forward to. Now we just have to put a full tournament together and keep working.”
Balit and Aicher both finished the three rounds at eight-over-par 224, and O’Bryan and Meyer right behind them at an 11-over 227.
The Wisconsin’s men’s golf team made significant progress over the past few months and is getting ready for the rest of spring play. It will compete in its next tournament, the C.O.G. Mizzou Intercollegiate, on April 9.
