Ohio is headed to Virginia for a the three-day Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate.
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When Ohio departs from Athens on Friday en route to Williamsburg, Virginia, it will be carrying yet another new starting five combination.
Junior Michael Engelman and senior Thomas Leech will make their first appearances of the season as the Bobcats make their own debut in the Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate. Freshman Grant Engel, sophomore Peyton White and senior Andrew Mlynarski will accompany Engelman and Leech in the starting group.
The tournament, which is hosted by the College of William & Mary, will take place at the River Course at Kingsmill Resort. The course has hosted players from both the Professional Golfers Association and the Ladies Professional Golfers Association in addition to being named a Top Ten Virginia Course by Golfweek Magazine.
A practice round will take place Saturday before 18 holes of golf each of the following three days.
Over twenty teams including Ohio are expected to compete in the event. This will be the largest tournament of the season the Bobcats have competed in thus far.
“It’s a newer tournament and I don’t know much about the course, you know I’ve seen it on TV,” coach Bob Cooley said. “But we got invited and we’re gonna take advantage of it.”
The team had limited outdoor practice time lately due to inclement weather. The Walter Fieldhouse, however, has shown to be a great aid in the Bobcats’ preparation.
“We’ve been able to practice outside a little bit, which is the first time all year,” Mlynarski said. “The Walter Fieldhouse has been huge for us, and this is our first time having a little bit of practice (outdoors) so this is kind of our first chance to show what practice can do for us.”
Having never played in this tournament, the team has scouted the yardage and tailored its practice towards the shorter course, which usually produces low scores.
“We’ve been focusing on hitting long shots (off the tee) and seeing where the ball starts at least,” White said. “We can see about 40 yards ball flight (in Walter Fieldhouse).”
The approach to the lineup is the opposite from the previous tournament, in which Cooley went young by starting two freshmen and two sophomores. Ohio finished 18th out of the 19 teams in the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate.
The Bobcats have 11 players on their roster.
“Mikey and Tommy, who haven’t been in the lineup, are playing absolutely fantastic right now,” Mlynarski said. “That’s kind of nice to know that they’re gonna show up and actually play pretty solid, it’s something nice to count on.”
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