This past weekend the UR golf team traveled to the East Coast Athletic Conference Championships held at Deerfield Country Club in Brockport, NY. The Yellowjacket’s two-day total of 645 placed them eighth out of 18teams competing. The weekend saw a UR team, whose strength is normally consistency go from shooting one-day totals between 300 and 310 to shooting over 320 on both days.
After the first day of play, UR shot a 321 and stood alone in fifth place, seven strokes behind eventual winner, Skidmore College. This put UR in good position to challenge for one of the top three spots. The team looked to improve on day one’s performance, but actually shot three shots worse, posting a 324 on day two of the tournament, which left the Yellowjackets tied for eighth place with University Athletic Association rival New York University. “Being only seven back after the first day was not a bad place to be, but to not come through on the second day was rather disappointing,” said senior John Semeniak.
The top performers for the Yellowjackets were senior Mike Quijano, who shot 159 over two days, Semeniak, who was close behind with a 160, and senior Scott Clyde, whose unique 165 came as a result of an opening round 90, followed up by UR’s low score of the tournament, shooting 75 on the second day. “It was a tough weekend, but I would like to commend Quijano and Semeniak for their steady play, even though they were struggling, and Clyde, who played very well on Sunday to shoot a 75 after a disappointing opening round,” said coach Rich Johnson.
The team will have to put this tournament behind them, if they are to stay in contention for nationals. The weekend was a struggle, but with only two tournaments remaining in their fall campaign, look for UR to come up with a win in one of the tournaments.
As Johnson said, “We are at the point where we need to step it up and win one of these next two tournaments, and finish our fall season strong.” The Yellowjackets look to bring their focus into their next tournament, on Oct. 13 and 14, the Nazareth/St. John Fisher Fall Invitational.
Fitzsimmons can be reached at afitzsimmons@campustimes.org.
