Golf struggles in rainy finish
Andrew D. Holt
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Sports
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After being tied for the lead following the first two rounds at the Aldila Scenic City Invitational, the Mocs limped to a seventh place finish in a cold, steady rain that lasted for the nearly the entire day.
It was the kind of weather that keeps people indoors, but with no threat of lightning, the 17 teams were forced to push through it last Tuesday at Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga.
Middle Tennessee State University took first place courtesy of a tournament-best 10-under par in the final round. Wichita State University, Southern Mississippi, Furman and the University of Missouri rounded out the top five.
While MTSU appeared unaffected by the bleak conditions, the Mocs, conversely, had struggles.
Visibly disappointed by his team's performance, coach Ghune said the Mocs didn't have one player play well Tuesday.
"When you've got five guys out there and nobody's playing well, you can't compete with anybody like that," Guhne said after the tournament.
The statistics showed that Ghune was in fact right. There wasn't a Moc that shot better than Fredrick Qvicker, who managed a 75 in the final rain-dampened round.
Qvicker, a senior from Stockholm, Sweden, said he got off to a solid start but when the rain came, things started to go downhill.
He said it wasn't just the rain that made things tough and that the pin placements were especially difficult.
"You got penalized pretty hard for missing your spots today," Qvicker said. "It was tough out there."
Stephan Jaeger, from Munich, Germany said playing in rain like Tuesday makes everything harder.
"I think the most different thing is that your grips are wet and your clubs are wet and you're wet," the sophomore said. "It's hard to get the motivation after a tough bogey to get back and say, 'I'm going to hit a good shot here.' It just seems so hard to make birdies."
This wasn't the first time the Mocs have struggled in inclement weather conditions but Guhne thinks his team is good enough to rebound and play well in the next tournament.
The Mocs will tee it up for the final fall event Nov. 2-3 at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate in Sapphire, N.C.
We're a good team," Guhne said. "We just have to get our heads on straight."
