Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
NCAA Central Regional
MU Golfers Struggle In NCAA Opening Round
5/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 15, 2008
NCAA Central Regional leaderboard (PDF) 
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Playing in its first NCAA Championship tournament, the Marquette University men's golf team struggled to find its groove during opening-round action Thursday at the Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio. Led by junior Mike Van Sickle's five-over 76, the Golden Eagles scored a 314 at the par-71, 7,419-yard Scarlet Course.
"I just don't think we adjusted to the conditions of the course and how difficult it is right away," said MU head coach Tim Grogan. "That's the disappointing thing, we knew coming in how tough it was going to be."
Only six players in the 27-team field, which also included six unattached individuals, carded first-round scores under par Thursday. Brendan Gielow's two-under 69 sits atop the leaderboard, while his Demon Deacons also sit in first place with a six-over 290. Marquette is currently in 25th place overall.
"We got off to a little bit of a poor start today, and once you get off to a poor start out here, you really can't recover because you're not going to get a lot of birdies on this course," said Grogan. "There's a lot of golf to be played -- 36 more holes. You can't go for pins. You have to hit the center of the greens and accept a 30-, 40-foot putt for birdie. You just can't put yourself behind the eight ball by making bad decisions, because it's going to cost you."
Marquette managed only seven birdies on the day, including a 20-foot birdie putt by junior Dustin Schwab on the par-5 hole six and a birdie from freshman Kelly Kretz, who managed to one-putt the par-5 hole 12 after his approach shot landed on the hole 13 tee box.
Van Sickle carded three birdies, two of which came on the front nine. Those were negated, however, by a double bogey on the par-5 hole four, where his ball found the water hazard. He was one-over on the back, including a birdie and another double bogey.
"I just came out and started poorly today," said Van Sickle. "It was a real grind for me in the afternoon. I hit the ball a little bit better. I had just one hiccup on the back. Otherwise, I could have made a few more putts and could've maybe gotten it back to par."
Each of the Golden Eagles will have a later start time for Friday's second round, beginning with Schwab at 12:59 p.m. (EST). Pairings and tee times for the first two rounds were pre-determined with Marquette having early tee times this morning. Sunday's third round will have teams re-seeded based on cumulative scores through the first 36 holes.
Although team members realized they didn't play to their full potential, Grogan kept things in perspective mentioning how they've been in contention in mostly every tournament in 2007-08.
"It's one round out of a whole spring season," Grogan added. "They just had a bad day today. They should expect to come back and play pretty well the next two rounds."
The Golden Eagles will have some catching up to do if they hope to be one of 10 teams from the regional tournament to advance to the Championship finals, and they are not alone. But with a number of the nation's top-ranked teams also in the field, Marquette knows it won't be an easy task.
"When all five guys are playing well, we can compete against anybody," said Grogan. "It's going to take a pretty good effort over the last two rounds, really."
2008 NCAA Division I Central Regional
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Columbus, Ohio
The Scarlet Golf Course
Par 71 / 7,419 yards
MU Individuals
T55) Mike Van Sickle 76
T87) Ted Gray 78
T119) Dustin Schwab 80
T119) Kelly Kretz 80
T127) Michael Bielawski 81
Team Scores
1) Wake Forest 290
2) Alabama 292
3) Oklahoma State 293
4) Florida 294
5) Eastern Michigan 297
T6) Texas A&M 298
T6) Illinois 298
T6) Michigan 298
T9) Lamar 299
T9) Ohio State 299
11) Indiana 300
T12) Louisville 301
T12) Tennessee 301
T12) Colorado 301
T15) Eastern Kentucky 302
T15) TCU 302
T15) Kent State 302
T15) Wichita State 302
T19) Arkansas 304
T19) Penn State 304
T21) Baylor 307
23) Texas-Arlington 308
24) Cleveland State 313
25) Marquette 314
26) Sacred Heart 316
27) Loyola (Md.) 318
Players Mentioned
