Bobby Jones once said that competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half inch course, the space between your ears.
According to coach Garry Winger, it was exactly that five-and-a-half inches that doomed his team down the stretch in the final round at the UK Bluegrass Invitational.
Through nine holes on Sunday, the Falcons were going along quite nicely, just one-over par for the day.
They seemed poised for a top-10 finish.
Disaster would strike on the back nine however, as the Falcons lost 12 shots to par over the inward half to finish in 11th place out of 24 teams.
Winger attributed his team’s poor play mainly to the fact that some players let their emotions get the best of them following wayward shots.
“The attitudes of a few players were not what they should have been when things started to go wrong,” Winger said. “When you have the whole team playing together that sort of reaction is something that can have a negative effect overall. I just told our guys after the round that that kind of thinking is unacceptable and that we need to stay positive when things don’t go our way.”
Claiming the team crown was Murray State University with a total of two-under-par 850.
The Racers edged Auburn and Memphis each by one shot.
Taking individual honors was John Stembridge of Auburn, who used a second round 65 to propel him into a tie for the lead and then shot 70 on the final day as his two main challengers, Cameron Carrico of Murray State and Brian Belden of Kentucky, each turned in 73s.
The bright spot for the Falcons was Matt Schneider, who was the low man on the team for a third consecutive week.
After opening on Saturday with rounds of 72 and 70, Schneider had his sights set on a possible high finish, but a final round 74 relegated him to a tie for 25th at plus-two 216.
“Matt played very well over the first two days,” Winger said. “But like everybody else on the team, he could not get a putt to drop on Sunday. The pins were stuck in some really difficult locations which made for a challenging day on the greens.”
Among the other Falcon competitors, John Powers finished in a tie for 34th at plus-five 218, Parker Hewit was within five of the lead after a second round 68, but a Sunday 78 pushed him back into a tie for 39th with a total of 219.
Wes Gates finished tied for 87th at 226, while Drew Preston continued his spring struggles, shooting a final round 78 to finish tied for 96th at 228.
The Falcons will have a week to rest up and practice before they hit the road for their next-to-last tournament of the season in two weeks at Penn State.
“Hopefully, everybody will use this week as a learning experience,” Winger said. “If we can just tidy up our short games a little bit, I think this team is capable of some great things down the stretch.”
