The Valparaiso University men’s golf team teed off the spring season on Saturday at the Club at Savannah Harbor in Savannah, Ga. As a team, the Crusaders made a four-stroke improvement in Round 2, posting a 307 after a 311 in the opening round. Brett Seward (Aurora, Ill. / Aurora Christian) is the top Crusader as he enters Sunday tied for 36^th overall.

How It Happened

• Seward stroked a 75 in the opening round, then improved to a 73 in Round 2 to finish the day at 148 (+4).
• Senior Michael Doherty (Lisle, Ill. / Naperville North) had the best Round 1 score of any Crusader, carding a 74. He followed with a 77 in Round 2 to finish the day at 151 (+7), tied for 47^th overall and second on the team.
• Freshman Drew Alexander (McCordsville, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern) stroked a 157 (t-69), sophomore Jeremy Wu (Medford, Ore. / St. Mary’s) carded a 162 and senior Zach Cutler (O’Fallon, Mo. / Timberland) finished at 171 (83^rd).

Inside the Rounds

• Seward’s 73 in Round 2 matched his lowest round of the season. He also carded a 73 at the SIUE Derek Dolenc Invitational in Round 3 on Sept. 26.
• Seward thrived on Par 3 holes, averaging a 2.75, tied for fourth in the field on Par 3s.
• The Crusaders enter the final round in 16^th place in the team standings. They are six strokes behind 15^th-place Florida A&M and eight strokes in back of 14^th-place Brown.
• William & Mary is the team leader at 13 under par, followed by South Carolina Beaufort at -10.
• The Crusaders had 22 birdies, led by Doherty with six.  

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

"The spring season has to start somewhere, and it was good to finally get it underway here in mid-February. While the golf course was in great condition and the weather was really good for 36 holes, we struggled today kicking the rust off from four months of not playing outside. The guys worked diligently with their conditioning and indoor practice over these winter months, but there is no substitute for hitting shots on grass and stroking putts on undulating greens."

"We will change this recipe of poor team scores once we make a better effort to reduce the big scores on holes and control our speed on the greens. We had a tremendous amount of 3-putt greens over both rounds, and too many from distances that shouldn't be issues. Since we missed our practice round with poor weather departing Valpo, we had a difficult time adjusting to the speed of the bermuda greens. I'm confident that we can improve our scoring tomorrow and play smarter rounds of golf."