Heading into last weekend, high finishes had been nonexistent for Drew Preston this spring.
The sophomore appeared to snap out of his funk at just the right time, however, finishing in a tie for 11th at the Rutherford Invitational with a score of 224.
“It just feels good to play well again,” Preston said. “I’ve been playing so awful lately that it just feels nice to put a couple decent rounds together.”
For the Falcons men’s golf team, Preston’s re-emergence is a most welcome sight as they prepare for this week’s Mid-American Conference Championships, where they will need everyone firing on all cylinders to secure a high finish.
“One of our main goals for this week was to get Drew back on track and it looks like we were able to accomplish that,” said coach Garry Winger.
As a whole, the Falcons turned in a fourth-place performance out of 14 teams, scoring a total of 906, four shots behind MAC rival Ohio, and seven back of second-place finisher Towson.
The host, Penn State, owned the medal stand, taking the team honors by a resounding 20 strokes, while senior Kevin Foley shot two-under 211 to claim the individual honor.
Foley, the 46th ranked player in the country, shot a superb final round of 69 to win handily by eight shots.
The Falcons had a pair of golfers take a peek at the lead after round one, as Preston and John Powers each shot 72 to position themselves just two off the pace.
The scores for each could have been much lower however, as Preston made what he called “some stupid mistakes” early in the round to fall four-over through seven, while Powers made six birdies, but still came in at one-over.
“Generally, I thought the guys improved on their performance from Kentucky,” Winger said, “but there were still plenty of sloppy mistakes around the greens. To be the best, we can’t be having mishaps like that with the short game.”
After his opening round 72, Preston shot 77-75 over the final two rounds to get his tie for 11th, while Powers drifted to a second round 79 before shooting 77 on Sunday to finish tied for 23rd at 228.
Joining Powers was Matt Schneider, who improved his score each day, shooting 77-76-75 to finish at 228.
Parker Hewit also improved each day, opening with 78-75 before a Sunday 73 gave him a tie for 16th, his highest finish of the year.
Freshman Wes Gates shot 81-80-84 to finish 71st at 245.
While four top 25 finishes is certainly encouraging, Winger said there is still plenty to work on before heading to Nashport, Ohio this weekend for the MAC Championships.
“We just have to keep working on our mental approach and lean to stay in the moment better,” Winger said. “We will also work to make sure everything is squared away as far as school is concerned so we can head down to Longaberger and play with clear minds.”
