Redshirt junior
Ryan Somerville (Aurora, Ontario / Aurora) turned in the team's top score of the day as the Valparaiso University men's golf team played the second round of the three-day, 54-hole Badger Invitational, hosted by Wisconsin at the par-72, 7286-yard University Ridge course on Monday.
How It Happened
- Somerville replicated his Round-1 performance with a 3-over 75 on Monday. After teeing off from Hole 10, he played the back nine at -1 including birdies on 15 and 17. He is tied for 67th of 100 at 150 through two rounds.
- Valpo's best tournament score through 36 holes belongs to freshman Tyler Samaan (Elgin, Ill. / Burlington), who carded a 78 (+6) on Monday to bring his two-round total to 147 (t-46).
- Junior Rob Politza (Lemont, Ill. / Lemont Township) was second on the team, both in Monday's round and for the tournament. He carded a 76 (+4) to bring his two-day total to 149 (t-64). Politza was even par through his first 16 holes on Monday before playing the final two holes at four over.
- The Beacons are 18th on the team leaderboard at 606, owning a five-stroke lead over Oakland. Southern Miss (564) sits atop both the team and individual (Jake Moffitt, -9) leaderboards.
Thoughts From Head Coach Dave Gring
"We started the second round on the 10th Hole, which is one of the tough stretches on the course. We discussed that as a team, but we still had a very poor start, playing the first five holes at +10. We were only able to put together six birdies for the entire round, and when you match that with three double bogeys, two triple bogeys and a nine on a Par 4, that's a recipe for a very poor team score."
"We have had some solid team scores during our past five rounds/two tournaments. Today's rounds were a combination of poor shot execution and not working through the mental toughness required when the rounds aren't going well. We need to be sharper mentally and stick to our process, especially when we have a slow start. We have a resilient group of players, and I'm confident that we can bounce back and finish the tournament with a solid round."
Up Next
The third and final round of the tournament will occur on Tuesday. A link to live scoring will be available via Clippd.
