The men’s golf team’s run of good fortune came to an end this week, with a tournament that Idaho coach John Means describes as one of the most frustrating and difficult days of his coaching career with the Vandals.
After finishing in third place in its previous two tournaments, the Vandals hit a wall on Monday and Tuesday in Eugene, Ore., at the Oregon Duck Invitational, finishing in a tie for 14th place.
Fatigue might have set in for Idaho as it only had a two-day break in between tournaments, a scheduling error Means wishes he could have back.
“We came out flat, struggled at the beginning before the conditions worsened, and played uninspired golf,” Means said. “This has been a long trip and I believe that … in retrospect I should not have scheduled two tournaments back to back without some rest in between.”
Collectively, the Vandals finished 45-over-par with 909 strokes, putting them 36 stokes behind the tournament champion, Oregon State, which finished at 9-over-par 873.
The Duck Invitational hosted a stellar field of schools, which posed to be stiff competition for the Vandals. Rankings from Golfweek.com showed that there were three teams competing that ranked in the top 75 in the country. Oregon at 48th, Oregon State at 68th and Minnesota at 73rd — Idaho is ranked 106th.
Along with the fatigue, junior Sean McMullen said that this was a course they weren’t used to playing on. After playing its first two tournaments at desert courses, adjusting to the thicker rough, wet conditions and steeper greens, was a tough transition, he said.
“To say we were tired would be kind of a lame excuse,” McMullen said. “I definitely think we weren’t really prepared for the golf course, it was just completely different … That’s on our shoulders, though, not coaching, not anything, it’s something that we just need to get better at.”
After the last tournament, where Idaho didn’t have a single player finish in the bottom half of the field, the team only had junior Aaron Cockerill finish in the upper half of the 87 players competing. He finished tied for 30th with a 9-over-par 225.
As for the rest of the team, freshman Jared du Toit, sophomore Rylee Iacolucci and freshman Ryan Porch all tied for 51st with a 13-over-par 229, and junior Sean McMullen tied for 63rd with a 16-over-par 232.
The Vandals will get a much-needed break, as they’ll get two weeks off until their next tournament on April 7-8 in Scottsdale, Ariz., where they will be competing in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic.
“We go to Talking Stick next and that’s really similar to the Classic Club and the course we played in Phoenix,” McMullen said. “So I think we will get right back on that track.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]