Adekale Ande, Campus Carrier Asst. Sports Editor
The men’s golf team had a chip on their shoulder this season and they are ready to turn some heads. Led by senior Ryan Elmore, the Vikings are ranked 15th in the nation.
Berry hosted the Chick-Fil-A Collegiate Invitational at the Stonebridge Golf Club on Monday and Tuesday. This tournament was a Pack-the-House event for men’s golf and their only home match of the entire season.
“Our tournament last weekend was a lot of fun having it at home,” sophomore Henry Jones said. “It was cool to have a tournament at home and have friends come out and see how it works and how we operate on the course.”
Golf is a team and an individual sport, so players compete on the road and really don’t get the opportunity to have “home-field” advantage or a student section cheering them on, so Berry’s invitational is an important event for the team.
The men’s team finished third as a team out of 11 other schools with a total team score of 596. They fell just short behind Rhodes and LaGrange College.
Individual standouts for the Vikings were Senior Joel Marie who shot a 75, or three over par, in the second round. He led the team with a ninth place finish after two rounds with a total score of 145. Elmore also contributed a 67, or five under par, round two score. He finished just behind Marie in tenth place with a score of 146.
Sophomore Henry Jones finished right behind them in thirteenth place, his total score being 148.
“Last year, we won the tournament and I won the tournament [individually], so expectations for this year were the same,” Elmore said. “Fell short of that and had a tough first day, but rallied the second day to finish in a much better spot than we were on day one.”
This season the team has the potential to win a national championship just like Berry’s 1998 men’s team.
Last year, Elmore had an outstanding season winning the 2015 PING All-America Honorable Mention, 2016 Third Team All-American, 2016 SAA Co-Player of the Year, First Team All-SAA and five top-five finishes out of nine events.
Elmore knows this could be his best team yet, so winning now is matter of urgency in this 2016-2017 campaign.
“For the team and for me as well, it has been up and down to start,” Elmore said. “We would have high rounds and low rounds, back and forth not very consistent across the board, but definitely showed some positives to build on for next semester.”
Elmore wants see someone step up in the absence of important seniors who graduated last year. He sees potential in in this new freshman class. He believes in their abilities and urges them to follow his lead.
“(I want) to leave a legacy for the people after me,” Elmore said. “To see what it takes to win and how hard you need to work and finally to just be a role model for the people at Berry after me.”
Elmore is currently ranked 11th in the nation for Division III men’s golfers with an average score of 72.18 per round.
Even though the team has not won a match yet this season, they are averaging 74.77 per round as a whole.
The Chick-Fil-A Invitational was the team’s last match for the fall portion of their season.