There must be something in the water, because the Bobcats don’t play to their potential every time they compete in Hilton Head, S.C.
Ohio concluded day one of the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate tournament Monday in 15th place out of 17 teams, but fell another spot before finishing competition Tuesday.
Struggling on the Wexford Plantation golf course is all too familiar for Ohio, as the Bobcats finished last out of 18 teams in 2013 and has not finished higher than 12th place since 2010.
“(On Monday) we obviously didn’t play very well,” coach Bob Cooley said. “We hit a lot of good shots, but the golf course is a pretty difficult course.”
Ohio teed off its first stroke play event of the season Monday but trailed by 39 strokes after the first two rounds of competition.
The course, which was renovated by Arnold Palmer in 2011, has been difficult for the Bobcats to master because of its tight shape, hazards and toughness around the green, Cooley said.
“It’s one of the hardest courses we play on,” junior Andrew Mlynarski said. “It’s extremely tough to start on, and the combination of winds, playing in the South and our game not being on point really played a factor.”
Freshman Peyton White led Ohio with a combined score of 232 (16-over-par), and his third-round score of 76 was the best single-round score posted by a Bobcat in the tournament.
The Bobcats combined to shoot scores of 316 in each of the competition’s three rounds.
But the struggles were not limited to the Wexford Plantation course, as Ohio began its stay in South Carolina with an 8.5-6.5 loss to DePaul on Saturday at the Callawassie Country Club, despite senior Bradley Lucas tallying three points for the Bobcats.
“DePaul is a good team,” Mlynarski said. “They’re a northern team like us, so we got a gauge where we were at with them.”
The winds gusted to almost 40 mph when Ohio faced off against DePaul, but the Bobcats are accustomed to the cool, turbulent temperatures.
“It was really windy and it was kind of a different course,” Cooley said. “It was a strange golf course, we’ve never played on there before.”
The Bobcats will have more than a month of practice time before they compete next in the Pinehurst Invitational on March 19.
lr514812@ohiou.edu
@lukeoroark
