La Porte, IN — With a trip to Briar Leaf Golf Club exhuming haunting memories for the majority of the Goshen College men’s golf team, the Leafs were able to exorcise a poor effort from a year ago, defeating Purdue University-North Central Tuesday by a count of 354-383.
Goshen fired a season-high 392 in last season’s event at Briar Leaf (click here for related article), a tally that still remains as the all-time high score in program history. Tuesday, however, Goshen carded its fourth-lowest round in the last three years — and lowest of any score on a layout other than home Timber Ridge Golf Course — just one week before the upcoming Mid-Central Conference Tournament.
“It was nice to get out of here with a win, of course, but especially nice to get our score quite a bit lower than our last trip here,” said Cory Furman, Goshen head coach. “Last year we were flat-out bad. Today, we scored okay, but we left a whole lot of shots in our bags. We’ve got the capability to get lower.”
The Leafs needed no such mastery Tuesday, as Purdue-North Central’s 383 tally was the highest of any Goshen opponent in program history. After defeating PNC at this season’s Goshen College Invitational by a 333-355 score (click here for article), Furman said he was hopeful his team could complete the season sweep. The host Panthers were without team ace and 2007 Greg Hire Trophy winner Chris Schultz, however, further hurting their chances.
“Golf is a game where a lot is made about someone beating someone else, but in the end it always comes back to your playing against yourself and your playing against the course,” Furman said. “Today was a good day for some of us in that regard.”
Senior Tyler Springer was the lead man in that category, firing a career-low 87 behind a stellar 41 on the backside. Sophomore Shawn Martz — Goshen’s low card (80) at the Goshen Invite — also fired an 87 via a 44-43 scorecard. Springer was awarded tournament medalist honors, as back nine scores were used as tie-breaking procedures.
“Tyler was exceptional today,” Furman said. “He looked a bit shaky on the range (before the event), but he started clicking more and more as the day went on. He should be very happy with the way he played. Shawn was also playing well, as he carded his score without taking any metals or hybrids out of his bag. He’s got confidence in his iron play right now, and he was able to utilize them well on Briar Leaf’s 6,445-yard layout.”
Goshen took an 89 from freshman Taylor TenHarmsel and a 91 from junior Luke Penner in rounding off its team total. Senior Chad Unrein and freshman Ryan Hallman shot 93 and 95, respectively.
“Outside of Tyler and Shawn, the rest of the guys can shoot much better,” Furman said. “We’ve seen some great things out of Taylor, and he’ll be good for us down the stretch. Ryan is hitting the ball well but just couldn’t score today, while Luke’s putting got better after shooting a high score on the front. Chad may have been in the low 80’s or upper 70’s if he can rid himself of the shanks from 120 yards and in. He’s blasting his driver and his long irons, and his putting is on fire. He probably gave away 10 to 15 shots from the short shanks.”
Purdue-North Central was led by Brian Phillips, who carded a 47-43 — 90. Even if Schultz would have played Tuesday and duplicated his Goshen Invite score of 76, Goshen still would have won the team event by a score of 354-357.
“Again, it was good to see some guys in the lower portion of our lineup do so well,” Furman said. “Hopefully that will give them some confidence as we get ready for our conference tournament. We’ve got one more meet to prepare.”
The Leafs will travel to Rozella Ford Golf Course to participate in the Grace College Invitational on Thursday. Match time is slated to begin at 10 a.m.
Final Results
Purdue University-North Central Dual Match
Briar Leaf Golf Course
GOSHEN COLLEGE – (354) Penner, 48/43, 91; Unrein, 44/49, 93; TenHarmsel, 44/45, 89; Hallman, 49/46, 95; Martz, 44/43, 87; Springer, 46/41, 87
PURDUE UNIVERSITY-NORTH CENTRAL – (383) Phillips, 47/43, 90; Cappello, 51/46, 97; Selman, 50/44, 94; Plucinski, 53/49, 102; Malartsik, 56/50, 106; Marks, 56/50, 106
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  Senior Tyler Springer
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