The Nicholls golf team placed 10th out of 10 teams at the three-round Southland Conference Tournament held April 16-19 at the Bluffs in St. Francisville. The Colonels shot rounds of 308, 315, and 328 to finish 87 shots over par during their final tournament of the year.
Colonel coach James Schilling said he was not pleased by the way his team performed.
“This is the worst any team has played since I’ve been here,” Schilling said. “Everybody played as bad as they could possibly play, and we just couldn’t get it done.”
Schilling said it was frustrating that his team competed well against the SLC teams earlier in the year, but failed to do so in their final tournament.
“We faired well against our conference schools in previous tournaments, so I don’t know what happened,” Schilling said. “We picked the wrong time to play bad.”
Nicholls was fifth in scoring average going into the tournament, in comparison to the nine other schools in the SLC.
Lamar took the team competition, after finishing 19 over par. With the win, Lamar clinches a spot in one of three NCAA Regionals.
Schilling thinks runner up Southeastern Louisiana should be in the running for an at-large bid, since the Lions are currently ranked 35th in the nation.
Chris Ohrn was the leading Colonel, firing off rounds of 74, 79, 78. Ohrn finished 15 over for the tournament to record a 21st place finish.
Kevin Axford was the next Colonel finisher, coming in at 16 over with a final day round of 83 and 24th place showing.
The Colonels only senior, Rod Lemoine, placed 45th after shooting rounds of 83, 79, and 85.
“Rod Lemoine hasn’t shot that bad since he was a freshman,” Schilling said. “It’s a sad way for Rod to end his career.”
Billy Rase was the fourth highest Colonel, scoring rounds of 86, 80, and 82 en route to a 46th place finish.
The last Colonel to round out the top five was junior Jacob Lipari. Lipari had rounds of 79, 87, and 89 to finish 49th and 39 over par.
“Jacob Lipari’s rounds of 89 and 87 are not acceptable college scores,” Schilling said. “In fact, all of our high scores aren’t acceptable, even if the course was difficult.”
Windy conditions at the Bluffs was one of the main reasons the scores were high, but Schilling insists his players should be at the point to where they should adjust to tough conditions.
“Apparently one player didn’t have trouble with the course,” Schilling said. “Chris Stroud (Lamar) managed to shoot 68, 71, and 74, so why couldn’t we?
“If you’re not hitting good on a tough course like the Bluffs, then you’re going to get murdered,” Schilling said. “If you miss a shot, it’s a double (bogie) or triple (bogie), and that’s what we did all day.”
