Late stumble results in fourth place finish for men’s golf at Colleton River Collegiate
Austin Jackson | Staff Writer
In the final round at the Colleton River Collegiate, North Texas men’s golf was on the brink of its first win of 2016. But a late stumble down the final stretch dropped the Mean Green to fourth despite freshman Thomas Rosenmuller busting his slump to return to stellar play.
After a birdie on 16, Rosenmueller brought North Texas just one stroke back of the eventual winner College of Charleston. However, the Mean Green couldn’t close, going six over on its final two holes.
Junior Cory Churchman said the disappointing finish has inspired the team.
“I think I can speak for most of the team, if not all, when I say that after this week, we are pissed off,” Churchman said. ”We know we have some work to do if we want to get where we want to go. We’ll be working our butts off over break to prepare for the rest of the season.”
Churchman’s triple-bogey on 17 and junior Alejandro Villasana’s double on 18 dropped North Texas to fourth place behind No. 42 Memphis University and No. 45 Michigan State University.
“On 17, I made a terrible swing and just miss-hit it and it went in the water,” Churchman said. “I had to re-tee it, which pretty easily turns into triple.”
Despite the triple, Churchman finished tied fir 19th while Villasana finished tied for 21st, giving him his second top-25 finish over his three tournament appearances this season.
In the first tournament of the spring, Villasana finished tied for 10th at the Oak Hills Invitational, but was not selected to play in the John Hayt Classic. He said he hopes his performances will get him a more permanent spot on the team’s tournament lineup going forward.
“I feel I am getting better every time, and I feel any given day I could win a tournament,” Villasana said. “I feel my game is at that level, and it is just a matter of repeating a good process and fix a few course management mistakes.”
Before the Colleton Collegiate, Rosenmueller struggled to live up to his own lofty standards, finishing tied for 34th at the UTSA Oak Hills invitational and tied for 72nd at the John Hayt Classic.
But after 54 holes of golf at the Pete Dye designed Colleton River Plantation in Bluffton, South Carolina, Rosenmueller found himself back home near the top of the leaderboard. He finished tied for seventh, his third top-10 and fourth top-15 finish of his seven tournament North Texas career.
Rosenmueller closed out the Colleton River Collegiate with a team-best 72 for the tournament and finished five-over, just four strokes short of his second victory. His even par round was far from boring, racking up six birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey to bring him back to even par.
Rosenmueller said he hopes to work on his consistency going forward.
“I fixed some small things in my swing, and the rest was just play golf,” Rosenmueller said. “Before, I was thinking too much and that caused many bad shots, but I got that fixed now. I just have to practice and get the confidence back, and then I’m good to go.”
Even with the freshman’s performance, head coach Brad Stracke said Rosenmueller and the rest of the team will look to take advantage of spring break as an opportunity to improve.
“Thomas is getting closer to returning to form, he will continue to improve like the rest of the team,” head coach Brad Stracke said. “We will work hard over the break and our overall scores will improve. The team will be in great shape for the post season.”
The Mean Green will have to wait until March 23 to show their post-break improvement in San Antonio, Texas at the Lone Star Invite.
Featured Image: File Photo
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