After starting the 2016-2017 season off with a victory at the Potsdam Quad, the Oswego State golf team looks to build on that momentum at their first home invite on Monday.
The Lakers had a combined team score of 305 at the Potsdam Quad, which was seven strokes better than second-place Clarkson University. The leading scorers for the were Corey Marshall and Zachary Hiris who both shot a 75, good enough to tie for third overall.
The important thing [the] invitational did was it gave us some confidence going into the season,” Marshall said. “We didn’t really know what to expect our first time out there so getting an early victory and getting some good scores really gives us confidence that if we do put the practice in then we’ll really compete with just about anyone.”
The success the team experienced at the Potsdam Quad wasn’t what they experienced at their home invite in the spring. The A-team finished in a disappointing third place which wasn’t even as good as their B-team, which finished ahead of them in second place. Sophomore Hiris said last year’s spring home invite left a sour taste in his mouth personally. “I didn’t play well and I was not happy that we finished in third and I was not happy we finished second to our B-team. It gave me a lot of motivation to get better over the summer and not let that happen again,” said Hiris. The work put in over the summer by Hiris and the rest of the team was the biggest difference between this year’s and last year’s teams, according to head coach Mike Howard. “They’ve shown that they put the work in over the summer,” Howard said. “It was apparent to me that [the players] came in to tryouts with confidence and their technique showed they were ready to play some competitive golf.”
Over the summer, the players focused on specific parts of their game that needed improvement. For example, Marshall emphasized his wedge play so that he could attack par fives which would give him a better chance to get birdies, while Hiris worked on his putting which he struggled with a few times. The work all the players put in during the offseason helped them achieve victory at Potsdam Country Club and hopefully achieve the same at Monday’s home invitational.
Howard is pleased with his team’s play to start the season and was enthusiastic about the score his team put up in Potsdam.
“We have players that are capable of shooting those scores on a consistent basis,” Howard said. “To see them start the season that way was very encouraging.”
The players put a lot of work in and have played well so far, but they will be going against some pretty stiff competition at their home invite. SUNY Potsdam is a team that has played well at the Oswego Country Club in the past and there are some individuals on SUNY Canton that can put up low scores as well. Nolan Reid of SUNY Canton placed first overall individually in the St. Lawrence Invitational recently, so he’s someone the Lakers are going to have to try and compete with.
The team knows the quality of competition they will be facing next Monday, but are confident that they will get a trophy on their home course.
“There’s some quality teams but we definitely think we have the upper hand on our home course,” Marshall said. “We’re expecting a W.”
“It’s our home course, we want to defend it and bring home the hardware,” Howard said. “We’re very familiar with the layout which is to our advantage, we just got to go out and execute.” The Oswego State golf team will have a chance to earn a first-place finish for the second straight year on their home course and continue building momentum at the 19th annual Oswego Fall Invite on Monday.
