Just two years removed from winning the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, the Bradley Men’s Golf team looks to the spring in hopes of making another run in conference play after a disappointing fall slate of competition.
The men’s golf team competed in five tournaments during the fall season, finishing in last place in all but one of those competitions. Inexperience may have been a reason for lack of success, as four of the five members had never competed for Bradley prior to the fall semester, including three of the members being true-freshmen.
Redshirt-senior Alex Ciaramitaro led the way for the team with an average score of 75.33 across 15 rounds during the fall. Freshman Josh Kirkham Heated up toward the end of the fall season, finishing in the top two on the team in scoring over the last two tournaments and finishing second on the team with an average score of 77.47, edging out redshirt junior Jalen Hodges’s average score of 77.93.
Head Coach Jeff Roche is putting the fall semester behind him and stated in a team meeting that he’s told his team to keep the focus on competing with one another in practice. Roche hopes by remaining competitive throughout the rest of the semester, his team will keep the competitive nature and not fold under pressure in the fall.
Ciaramitaro says the team has taken to their coaches words and applied them past practice.
“Good teams always win,” Ciaramitaro said. “Even when we’re playing video games with each other, we want to be doing our best to win.”
The men’s golf team will be back in action on Feb. 15, as they head to Savannah, GA, to compete in the Invitation at Savannah Harbor.
The team will be off for a few weeks, before competing in the Grover Page Classic in Jackson, Tenn. on March 9-10.
Following the Grover Page Classic, the team will travel to Springfield, MO. to compete in the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate between March 23-24.
Wrapping up the regular season, the men’s team will compete in the John Dalio Match Play in Lemont, IL.
The Missouri Valley Conference Championship will be held between April 27-28 in Flossmoor, IL. at the Flossmoor Country Club.
If the Bradley Men’s Golf team hopes of bringing back an MVC trophy to the Hilltop, the team will have to perform better across the board.