When the Bowling Green golf team heads to Columbus for the Kepler Intercollegiate, they’ll be looking at things a little backwards.
While most teams will be looking for big days from their top golfers, the Falcons will be looking for a big performance from their fifth golfer.
BG has improved steadily over the past month, but the fifth spot has been a question mark.
The player they hope answers that question is senior Craig Pickerel.
“He has proven himself before,” BG head coach Garry Winger said. “He has to be ready to go and be our fifth guy.”
Pickerel is used to being a guy the Falcons can count on. Each of the past two seasons, he has shot BG’s second-best average, and this fall, he started out placing second at the Piper Intercollegiate to start the season. He led the Falcons through the fall and shot an average of 74.53 — best for BG.
But this spring, he suffered a sprained ankle and lost valuable practice time.
“Craig is the type of guy that needs to practice a lot,” Winger said. “And he’s had that the past couple weeks.”
Winger is hoping the increased practice time added to not being able to go to every tournament this spring will give Pickerel the incentive he needs to successfully cap off a solid college career.
“He’s hungry right now, and doesn’t like not playing in tournaments,” Winger said.
Pickerel isn’t the only one benefitting from practice; the rest of the team has had a good week of practice and should be ready for the Kepler, which features a slew of Big Ten and MAC teams.
Their practices have given them a look at different situations.
“Practice has been good,” Winger said. “We practice in the morning, so it’s cool when we start but it ends up being pretty warm by the end of the day.”
While many golfers may look forward to sunny weather and no wind, it is playing in the elements that make the Falcons a better team.
The weather in Columbus this weekend promises wind and cold weather, something the Falcons have seen all spring in BG. The Falcons are hoping it plays into their favor.
“Bad weather scores are normally higher,” Winger said. “So 75, 76, 77 could end up being a good score.”
The opening round of the tournament is scheduled to start tomorrow with the final round being played Sunday on the Scarlet Course at Ohio State. While it’s a place BG hasn’t played, they know defeating the course is the key to defeating their opposition.
“It doesn’t matter who is there,” Winger said. “No matter what tournament it is, it’s us against the course.”