by Colin Alger, Ben Line-Neumann and Jack Simzyk
The Bradley Braves men’s golf team finished fourth at the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championship this past Tuesday, which means that they will not be advancing to the NCAA Regionals and that their season has come to an end.
Although the Braves didn’t repeat as MVC Champions, the overall feeling within the team is that the season was successful and that there is a lot to be proud of. Senior, Drake Bushong said, “The fall went really good. We had a lot of good scores and set a lot of records. The spring was plagued by rain, so that made it a lot more difficult, but overall it was a good season.”
Senior, Michael Mounce said “I think we had a great year, despite how conference ended. I think we had a lot of positives and I think next year will be the same.”
There were plenty of highlights throughout the season, including: senior, Daniel Lensing picking up his first career individual win, the team winning the Zach Johnson Invite, Charles Jahn finishing top three at the Ryman Intercollegiate and Drake Bushong finishing up his historic Bradley career. Along with all these highlights, many players have their own personal, individual highlights from the season. When asked about his, Mounce said, “Mine was probably my first round of the whole season when I shot six under. I thought that was pretty cool and it was my favorite moment I’ve had walking off of the course.”
Bushong took time to stand back and appreciate the entire season as one whole moment. “I would say the whole season in general (is my favorite moment). Going to each tournament and just kind of knowing that it’s going to be your last at each course, and kind of enjoying it that way.” Bushong said.
Head coach, Jeff Roche pointed out the team’s special bond with one another and that not all season highlights happen on the golf course. “The wins and all that were exciting, but I think that a lot of our highlights were things that didn’t necessarily involve the golf course. We enjoyed being around each other and hanging out.” Roche said.
The 2018-2019 season ending means that the Braves men’s golf team will be saying goodbye to four golfers. Drake Bushong, Daniel Lensing, Branden Mounce and Michael Mounce will all be graduating Bradley University in May, which means that this season was the last in their Bradley golf careers. Michael Mounce explained what it was like to be able to play with his brother the past four years at Bradley. “Golf is something that I think we’ve both enjoyed and that we will continue to enjoy. We’ve been with each other forever and we just enjoy competing against one another.” Mounce said.
Bushong reminisced on his golf career as well. “Starting back in my senior year of high school, I just wanted somewhere to go where I could play right away, gain experience and things like that. I don’t really think about the records or anything like that, I just kind of went out and played golf, and at the end of the day things happened and that’s still how I view it. It’s all the result of hard work.” Bushong said.
Michael Mounce and Bushong both had final statements that they wanted to share as well. Mounce said “I would just like to say thanks to everybody. A lot of people have done a lot of things for me to get to this point and I appreciate everything they’ve done.
Bushong added on by saying “I just want to say thanks to everyone for the huge support system here at Bradley.”