Following a fall season “full of ups and downs,” the men’s and women’s golf teams have officially concluded their regular season following their Regionals tournaments.
The season was plagued with COVID and injuries, which led to difficulties competing.
“It’s one of those where we wish that everybody would have been fully healthy for the full season,” head Coach Scott Fergurson said. “Sometimes you have to play through adversity, and that’s what we’ve had to do,” Fergurson said.
One of the main difficulties was losing players due to injury. Victor Vargas, one of the top men’s players, had a tear in his left rotator cuff and a partial rupture of his pectoral, which resulted in him having to sit out of his final golf season, leaving the men short one of their top players.
They competed last Monday and Tuesday at regionals, where they placed 3rd overall, just one stroke shy of second.
João Costa, a freshman from Portugal placed third overall in the competition.
“We expected to win, so finishing third with one shot behind second place was not what we wanted. Individually it went well though,” Costa said.
The women competed earlier this week at Old Capital Hill, where Oakland City won, but both Trinity Reis and Maddie Heineman made the All-Regional Team.
As a whole, this year, the women were able to put up some good scores and some personal bests in competition.
“I definitely improved this, this last tournament could have been a lot better, but the season has just felt a lot different for our team. We haven’t been able to compete as a team which was hard,” said senior, Gracie Turner.
While the regular season has concluded, there is still a chance for a postseason. Maddie Heineman qualified for a spot at the NCCAA National Tournament in Hammock Beach, and the men may have the opportunity to compete and defend their national championship.
Following Bob Jones winning Regionals on Wednesday, the men have a better chance of going and a final decision will be made in the next week if they qualify.
“The most fun part of the season is being able to go to Florida,” Ferguson said. “It’s an incredible golf course. It’s an incredible week for our players, and so I love that they get to have that experience. And I hope that we get to defend our national title on the men’s side and that we’re able to bring out a few more all-Americans.”
Despite the difficulties of the season and the challenges the team faced, Coach Fergurson still sees the teams’ success.
“Coach Kraus and I just want to be guys who are helping build strong young women and young men, both on the golf course and off. And so I feel like we’re doing that,” Fergurson said.
“This fall, it wasn’t as expected, but we’ll take it because, ultimately, it’s all about a lot more than just the game of golf.”
