The Stetson men's golf team got an early idea of the level of competition their will face this spring when they hosted Liberty University on Monday at Victoria Hills Golf Club.
The Hatters and Flamed ended up playing just 15 holes in the second round of the match before darkness ended play. The coaches decided to just count the first 27 holes of competition toward the result of the match.
Over those 27 holes, Liberty finishes with a 10 shot advantage over Stetson to win the match 435 to 445. The Flames' Mathieu Fenasse posted a six-under par 66 through the first 18 holes and finished at six under to take medalist honors by seven shots over teammate Isaiah Logue and Stetson's Dustin Dingus.
“I think the outcome wasn't as bad as the way everyone played,” Hatters coach Larry Watson said. “It was great at this early stage to have a competition so that you know where you stand. I thought some of the boys played very well, to have only been back for seven days. Some obviously played better than others.”
The teams designated six players on each squad to use as counters, and then counted the best four scores for each of the three nine-hole segments of play. The Hatters were slow out of the gate, spotting Liberty a 10-shot lead over the first nine holes before playing the Flames even over the final 18.
“You can't face a really good program, like Liberty, and not come away knowing what you need to do to get better,” Watson said. “This is a team ranked in the top 100, and we are ranked 209, so there is obviously work to be done.
“I wasn't that disappointed in the way we finished. I was more disappointed that not a lot of the boys played on their own during the winter break. They had to get ready for this on their own and some of them did. Some of them didn't. If you like mediocrity, that is great. I don't like mediocrity.”
Dingus posted scores of 38 on the front nine both times through, but was three under par 33 on the back nine.
Like most of the Hatters, sophomore Eliott Azoulay got off to a slow start with a 39 on the first nine holes, but was even par the rest of the way to finished fourth at three over par.
The thing that hurt the Hatters most was that senior Matt Taylor and junior Brian Kehoe, who were two of the six selected to form the team scoring, struggled. Taylor was 10-over par by himself on the first nine holes and finished at 14 over par for the day. Kehoe posted a 90 through the first 18 holes before posted a 37 through the final nine.
“Golf is not a game where you can sit in your room and get better,” Watson said. “You have to go out there and hit balls. The only way to improve is to work on your weakest points. The things that you do well, you will probably continue to do well most of the time. The things that you do poorly, you have to attack to get better or you will continue to do them poorly. We don't have anyone one on our team that is good enough to not put in the time.”
The play against Liberty will open qualifying for the Hatters as they look toward their second event of the spring, which is scheduled for February 24 in Plantation, Fla., against Florida Atlantic and Hartford. Watson said he will take seven of his 10 players to that event.
“This will count toward qualifying for the next event, and there will be a lot more qualifying,” Watson said. “I will tell you that qualifying will not be the only criteria to determine who goes. I totally reserve the right to pick whoever I think can play.
“To lose by as little as we did, every boy we had out there could look back and see a shot here or a shot there that they gave away that could have made a big difference. You can't just mail it in if you are six over if there are still holes to play.”
The Hatters will play in their first full tournament of the spring March 2-3 at the Davidson Invitational in North Carolina.
