Ben Prescott, sports editor
The Berry College men’s and women’s golf teams are looking to build on the success from the fall tournaments.
For the men’s team, Head Coach Brian Farrer acknowledges the potential that the Vikings have shown through the fall. The team has a stroke average of 295, the sixth best average in program history.
“On the men’s side, they won their first tournament out [last semester],” Farrer said. “They beat 18 other teams up in Kentucky on a golf course we’ve never played. [We] had three freshmen in the lineup, so to see them do that was very impressive.”
This is also the strongest women’s team that Farrer has seen, having the second-best stroke average in program history with 306.
“On the women’s side, they are ranked 14th in the country and they’re probably going to be ranked the fifth or sixth ranked team in that field,” Farrer said. “A top three finish out of the women would be really good.”
Farrer also sees some players who have the potential to lead the team to more success.
“I think at the end of the day we are all working to get better and we’ll learn from each other,” Farrer said. “Even the number one [player] can learn from the number eight [player] in some capacity.”
Farrer calls on Seth Jolly, Bailey Plourde and Chloe Wegienka as the main leaders for their respective teams. According to Farrer, each of these players acts as a leader in their own way with Jolly and Wegienka going out of their way to be there for the younger players and Plourde leading the team by example with her great play on the course.
Part of realizing the potential that the men’s team has is through tournaments that give younger players an opportunity to show what they have. The goal is to see who can step up to the fourth and fifth spot on the team, which is exactly the opportunity that freshman Luke Ommen and junior Brenden Blomquist had at the Ram Spring Invitational at the Magnolia Grove course in Mobile, Ala.
At the tournament, Blomquist shot a combined score of 229, placing in the top 25. This was his first tournament in a year after taking some time away from the game in the fall.
“It was a little bit odd coming back and being thrown under that without having playing in a tournament in a long time,” Blomquist said. “I think it went well; it went better than I had really expected. I thought I would be more nervous [after] not playing in so long.”
According to Blomquist, the highlight of his tournament play was birdieing the first hole in all three rounds of play. Blomquist also enjoyed getting back out in the competitive atmosphere after not playing in the fall.
Ommen shot for a combined score of 253. While he acknowledged there were a couple of tee shots that he wished he could take back, he is looking forward to using the rest of the season to get better and hopes to improve all parts of his game before the conference tournament April 22 through 24.
When looking ahead at the rest of the spring, Blomquist knows that that the men’s team has potential to win big. The relationships that the players have built are the driving motivation for the rest of the spring.
“Overall, the guys love each other and we all get along really well,” Blomquist said. “If there’s a year to do it, whether it’s this year, we have really good team chemistry. I think we can win some stuff and open a lot of people’s eyes.”