Story Links
The Wheeling University Men’s golf team are returning to action this week, as they host the MEC Spring Classic at Oglebay Resort. The Cardinals had a season best result last time out at the Vulcan Fire Invitational with a tied 2nd finish that, despite them being unable to capitalise on the lead they held going into the final round, improved their regional ranking to #12 with 3 regular season events left.
Performing best for the Cardinals at the Vulcan Fire Invitational was graduate student Troy Loughry as he made his first appearance of the season. With a gritty 2-over 74 on the first day to place him in a tie for 4th, Troy came in to the final round confident in his scoring, and it showed. Loughry would make 3 birdies across the round with only 1 bogey for a 2-under 70, earning him solo second behind Gannon’s Matia Parrini. It would be a finish that was invaluable to Wheeling’s 2nd place finish, as Troy showed his class when his teammates needed it.
Joining Loughry with 2-over 74s on day one was Zak Collins and Sean Dobson. With both hailing from the ever-freezing british isles, the biting cold that greeted Washington on the first day was seemingly a little easier to battle through, as they both sat in a tie for 4th going into the last round. The two of them would unfortunately struggle to score in the last round, with both dropping outside of the top 10 to finish in a tie for 18th and 14th respectively.
Lodin Femoen would mark a Cardinal fightback for the win late on in the final day, as a poor front 9 had the Cardinals believing Gannon had a little too much for them on the day. With 2 birdies in a row on 16 and 17, Femoen would put Wheeling back in it with 3 holes to play. Collins and Loughry would both birdie 16, meaning Wheeling was tied for the lead late in the back 9. It unfortunately wasn’t to be for the Cardinals come the final putt, but will prove to be an important experience as they get ever-closer to win number 1 under new head coach Thadd Obecny.
With a second place finish under their belt and players performing when needed, the Wheeling University Men’s Golf team will be looking for nothing but the win this week. It is the second and final Mountain East Conference sanctioned event of the year, and takes place at Oglebay’s Palmer Course, the Cardinal’s home course. Following on from a good result at the MEC Championships in the fall, sophomore Zak Collins can take a spot on the All-MEC first team with a top 5 finish, whilst graduate student Sean Dobson can also add his name to the list with a strong finish this week.
The Cardinals will return to action with the first round of the MEC Spring Classic on Tuesday, April 6th, with tee times starting around noon and live scoring available by clicking HERE.