weather conditions at the par-72 Chenal Country Club.
photo via BradleyBraves.com
The Bradley mens golf team brought its fall season to a close at the Little Rock Invitational last Tuesday. The Braves finished sixth overall out of 10 teams.
The tournament, held at the par-72 Chenal Country Club, was played under tough condition, According to head coach Jeff Roche.
It went from very good weather on Monday to cold, 40 mile-per-hour winds on Tuesday, really giving each day a different feel, Roche said. We stayed level mentally though.
The Braves top-10 finisher, Ethan Brue, said the difficult conditions were typical for this time of the year in the Midwest and gave the Braves an advantage.
The weather was very similar to the weather we play in all the time in Illinois during the fall, Brue said. So I dont think the cold and windy conditions affected us as much as the other teams.
The Braves competed against nine other schools and finished with a score of 899, good enough for a three-way tie for 6th place with Houston Baptist and Arkansas State.
Though they did not meet their goals, Roche said there were positives in the results.
It went well, Roche said. Finish-wise we tied for sixth out of 10. It doesnt look great on the surface, but our goal was fifth or better, so we were very close. All in all, there were a lot of positives that they accomplished as a team, so it was a good couple of days.
In addition to Brues strong showing, sophomore Drake Bushong finished with a score of 222 to help pace the Braves. Roche said it was nice to see Bushong finally put it all together.
Drake had a strong tourney. He put up three rounds together for the first time this fall. That was very crucial for us, Roche said.
The Little Rock Invitational marked the end of the fall season for the Braves. According to Brue, the team is happy with the way they played, and they are excited for the spring.
Having a couple of the younger guys step up this fall was a great and welcomed sign for the
future of our program, Brue said. We are definitely a better team right now than we were at the beginning of the fall. This winter will be used to help guys find their roles on the team so we can have a championship spring season.
Roche echoed his top golfers comments and said he is also gearing up for his team to to hit the links in the spring
Our goal is to be as best prepared as we can to compete for a conference title. Well take the off-season to address some things, Roche said. For a fall season as far as we finished, were looking for a strong spring season ahead. We have a lot of good players, we just need to find guys to step up and be leaders.
The Braves will have about four months off before the spring season starts up in Houston in February. They will also have about four or five matches in between then and conference to find the leaders Roche expects to bring the team a conference championship in April.
