The Ohio men’s golf team finished seventh in the inaugural Mid-American Conference Match Play tournament in Florida on Tuesday.
The Bobcats took on top seed Ball State Monday and lost four of its six matchups.
Junior Michael Lamping was the only Bobcat who won a pairing for Ohio in the match. The second round, originally scheduled for Monday, was cut short and consequently postponed until Tuesday morning due to darkness.
Lamping said the delay allowed the Bobcats to figure out what they had to accomplish in the second round to be victorious.
“It let us figure out where we stand in the matches and going out this morning we knew what we had to do,” Lamping said.
Ohio fared better in its next pairing but fell to Toledo 3.5-2.5.
Senior Paul Grauer and sophomore Connor Coldwater both won pairings for the Bobcats.
Following the loss to the Rockets, the Bobcats defeated Bowling Green 5-1 to secure seventh place. Ohio won five out of six pairings in the match against the Falcons.
Lamping said defeating Bowling Green in the last round of the tournament was a good boost of confidence.
He also said the tournament will give Ohio a better sense of what it needs to do in the weeks to come.
“It’s just going to give us more experience and getting outside is going to be huge for us going forward, especially down in South Carolina,” Lamping said.
He said one of the main reasons the team enjoys match play is because the format is different than usual stroke play.
“I know a lot of the guys were excited to get down there and just get outside,” Lamping said. “Combining that with a match play event, I think it’s a great way to start the season off for the MAC conference.”
The Bobcats start their stroke play portion of the year when they take on DePaul on Saturday in Hilton Head, S.C.
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