Coming off a tough weekend at the Hershey Cup two weeks ago, the Oswego State golf team looked to rebound in Pennsylvania at the Empire 8 Spring Championships.
Shooting the lowest first-round scores for the Lakers would be sophomores Tyler Donohue with a round of 75 and Jake Owens with a round of 78. Oliver Wolland scored an 80 on the first day. Graduate student Ryan Fecco struggled in the first round shooting an 83, 11 over par.
After day one the Lakers would have four players in the top ten with Donohue leading the pack in third place and 11 strokes off the lead. As a team, Oswego would shoot a 313 which would have them in second place behind St. John Fisher University which shot a 293 as a team.
After struggling on day two, Fecco bounced back and shot a 73 to bring his score to +14. Fecco shared his thoughts on his performance and what led to his improvement in round two.
“On Saturday I put too much pressure on myself to try to win the Player of the Year and if you are mentally not there in golf, it is over for you before you even swing the golf club,” Fecco said. “On Sunday I relaxed a little more and played the golf I know I am capable of playing.”
Fecco’s second-round improvement would help him capture sixth place after being tied for 16th on day one.
Fecco is not the only Laker who would improve in round two. Owens shot a 76 to finish in fifth place with a total score of 154 (+12). Donohue finished at +15 after a second-round score of 82 to give him seventh place, right behind Fecco and Owens. Wolland shot another 80 to finish tied for eighth place with a score of 160. As a team Oswego finished in second place shooting 311 on the second day for a total score of 624 (+56). They finished 29 strokes off the winners, St. John Fisher University.
Despite struggling at the Hershey Cup, head coach Mike Howard believed that the tournament benefited his team and helped play a role in their second-place finish at the spring championship.
“Being at the Hershey Cup was beneficial to see the course again, the layout, play the greens and understand there are certain ways you can be successful around the golf course,” Howard said. “The benefit of being on the course for three rounds before the Empire 8 was critical for confidence and getting the layout better to know where your misses can be.”
The Spring Championship wraps up the second half of the Empire 8 Championship which started at the beginning of October. Oswego State finished in second place overall with a total score of 1,275. St. John Fisher took first place with an overall score of 1,228.
The Lakers just have two more tournaments left to wrap up their 2022-23 season as their next stop will be at Elmira Country Club.
“I think we can always improve with our short game, we missed a lot of short putts,” Howard said. “Definitely around the green and 150 yards in we can do a better job.”
The Elmira Spring Invitational will be a one-day event on Tuesday, April 25. In the fall the Lakers placed second at Elmira with a team score of 328.
Photo via: Oswego Athletics
