Vincennes University Golf competes at Garn Championships

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. – The Vincennes University Golf team took part in the Spring Arbor University Garn Championships earlier this week at The Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Ky.

The first day of the two-day tournament began after a two-hour delay due to frost.

The opening day of play was originally going to be the first two rounds of the 54-hole tournament, but the field was unable to finish the second round and the tournament had to be suspended due to darkness.

The teams returned to the course on the second day and faced another delay, before finishing the second and third rounds of the tournament.

Vincennes placed 14th as a team after an impressive first round, before sliding down the leaderboard in rounds two and three.

The Trailblazers were led in the tournament by low-man freshman Luke VanDeventer, who shot a 78 in the first round, 82 in the second and battled back to shoot a 78 in the final round.

“Luke didn’t have a bad tournament,” VU Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. “He continues to improve as the season goes along.”

VanDeventer finished one-shot higher than sophomore Bryce Kirchner (North Vernon, Ind.) who got off to a hot start in the tournament with a first-round three-over 75.

“The story of the first day was Bryce,” Chattin said. “Bryce had a good round of 75, highlighted by an eagle on the last hole.”

Kirchner would go on to shoot an 85 in the second round and a 79 in the third round.

Freshman Paxton Schwomeyer (Oakland, City, Ind.) was the next Trailblazer finisher after having a very consistent tournament, shooting an 80 in the first round and 83’s in the second and third rounds of play.

Freshman Sam Stewart (Floyds Knob, Ind.) shot a first round 86, before finishing off an 89 and 91 in the second and third rounds on day two.

Freshman Caleb Maris (Terre Haute, Ind.) rounded out the VU scorers, ending with an opening round 94 and was the only Trailblazer golfer to improve on his score in the second round with a 93. Maris closed out the tournament with a 97 in the third round.

“We played what I thought was an average first round,” Chattin added. “Nothing great, but nothing terrible. Then the last two rounds we just did not play well at all.”

“We just need to be deeper,” Chattin said. “One of the unique things about golf is that every player counts the same. Unlike other sports, if a guy has a couple of bad plays, you can take him out. In golf he has to keep playing.”

“A good golf course separates the field. That was a good golf course, they have held a PGA event there. So, you better play well, or it will make you pay. The pins were tough and it was cold, but everybody played the same pins at the same temperature.”

“You have to be mentally tough as a golfer and I think we need to be mentally tougher. When you play from 11 in the morning to seven at night, there is no time where you get to go sit on the bench and relax for a little while and that takes a lot of mental toughness. One of the biggest adjustments for high school kids playing in college is playing 36 holes in a day, which most of them have never done and we played with four freshmen, who are still getting adjusted. This tournament had a lot of four-year schools in it, so our guys are in a group with some fifth-year players.”

“But it’s good experience and good exposure to play that good of a golf course against some good four-year schools. When we got home I said to the guys, ‘the course kind of beat us up, do you guys want to go back next year’ and every one of them said yes. So that’s a good sign that they want to give it another shot.”

The VU golfers will have a quick turnaround as they head out to Cape Girardeau, Mo. to take part in the Region 24 Spring Preview at Dalhousie Golf Club Friday, April 1.