By Alexander Abramovich

The Oswego State golf team hit the road and traveled to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to participate in the Hershey Cup and the Empire 8 Championships, their first time hitting the links after their winter break. The Lakers had high hopes heading into the first two rounds of the conference championships, aiming to shoot even lower than they did in the fall season.

The first day of the Hershey Cup was not the start that the Lakers were hoping for, as they finished 15th out of 17 teams who competed in the event. Oswego State finished with a team score of 345 in the first round of the par-71 course, a +61 total score. Freshman Jake Owens was the team’s lowest shooter as he posted a score of 81, a +10 total, while senior Joe Marszalek trailed Owens by five shots when he shot an 86. The team’s usual lowest shooter senior Ryan Fecco finished the first day shooting an 88.

The Lakers stayed put after the second day, as they finished in 15th place and shot a total score of 684. Owens finished with a team-best 164 in the two-round scoring race, while junior Anthony Robinson had himself a great second day topping his day one score by nine strokes. Fecco and Marszalek both finished off their trip with respectable scores of 175.

This was Oswego State’s first time playing in a meaningful match since October, so there was definitely some rust that had to be shaken off. When asked about stepping out on the course again, head coach Mike Howard said that his team was definitely rusty after their long break.

“Obviously we were definitely rusty, I mean we hit balls solid, but that only goes so far as preparation goes,” Howard said. “We played a practice round, which was our first time going outside. We got a good look at the course, some of the guys hadn’t played there previously, so for this course it wasn’t the outcome we were looking for, but we have to take in the big picture that it was literally the first time outside for us since last fall.”

The Hershey Cup was not the greatest performance for the Lakers, and that shows when even your best player of the year has an off-round. After a strong fall campaign, Fecco had a shaky outing in Hershey. While the weather could be a valid excuse for a rough weekend, Fecco believes that he had to get back into the swing of things, and he had a feeling that there might be some rust heading into the event.

“I obviously did not play very well at Hershey the first time, but I went into there knowing I was going to knock some rust off,” Fecco said. “That was only my second round of golf, we played the practice round on Friday, and that was my first round outside really, so I was just going out there to knock some rust off. I hit the ball pretty good, it’s touch, I had no feeling in my short game really, so hopefully, after Hershey, I tuned up a little bit and can improve on that.”

The next weekend was a better result for the Lakers as they took part in the Empire 8 Championships when they finished second out of seven with a total team score of +152, 1288. Owens had a fantastic weekend for Oswego State as he shot a +15 and shaved five strokes off of his score from the first day of the championships. Owens also took the Spring Championships first overall and moved up two spots on the second day, an impressive outing for the freshman. Owens seems to have made improvements to his game and looks to continue his strong start to the spring.

“Well, I’m definitely more comfortable with the environment of competition,” Owens said. “After a whole year here I definitely know everyone on the team a lot better, we are all much closer friends. It helps when you have people around you to comfort you when you need it.”

This past weekend was one to remember for Owens, and even after a solid first day he was able to improve the next day. The Lakers had played at Hershey not long before hitting the links there again, and Owens believes that getting to know the course better helped him and his team perform better this time around.

“It was our second time there in three weeks, so I was getting pretty comfortable with the course,” Owens said. “The wind made things extremely tough, so I knew if I could just play my own game I wouldn’t have to do anything crazy, just play a normal round and still be able to have a competitive score.”

Fecco is known as one of the better players on this Lakers group, but did not have his best performances at Hershey, which he was frustrated at. The second day of the Empire 8 Championships started off hot for Fecco with a strong front nine, but he struggled on the back nine.

“I regret not finishing strong on the last day, because I had the lead for most of the day,” Fecco said. “I kind of choked on the back nine, there’s a lot of ways to say it, and it stings but I’m still proud of how I played. Obviously I don’t know how many players are in the Empire 8, finishing second is obviously nice, although I want to finish the deal and seal it for my last year.”

Fecco believes that this team has done a great job of fighting their way back after being knocked down this season. The future of this team is in good hands according to Fecco and will be great going forward. He also had a message for anyone interested in joining the team next season.

“They are going to be fine, Jake is going to be the new leader of the team and I think he is going to be very capable of winning a couple of Player of the Years,” Fecco said. “You gotta work hard, it’s a game like no other, you can’t just play a couple of times and be really good at it. It’s a lot of mental stuff, but stay dedicated and if you really want to do it you gotta work hard and grind, see where it goes from there.”

Graphic created by William Rogers