Bradley’s men’s golf teed off at the Missouri Valley Conference Golf Championship en route to its best finish since 1986.
Bradley was projected to finish fifth in the tournament, but the Braves came out strong and finished third as a team with three of the five competitors finishing in the top 20.
The team shot its best round in the MVC Tournament with a second round score of 291, despite having to finish the round the next morning due to lightning.
“Once we got past the jitters, we settled into who we were,” said Coach Jeff Roche. “Picking up the next day made a different momentum shift.”
The Braves finished the third round much like the first. They still had an opportunity to win the tournament while trailing Wichita State by three shots entering the final round.
“We knew that we could actually do this,” junior Danny Masrin said. “It put more faith in our eyes and may have added extra pressure.”
Masrin tied for fifth and had the best finish for a Bradley individual since 2005. Senior Kyle Gunther finished his career with a top 10 finish. He tied for eighth and shot a one-under 70 in the second round.
“[Danny and Kyle] played very solid,” Roche said. “They didn’t emotionalize by getting too high or low.”
Junior Seth Trolia earned a top 20 finish, which was his seventh top 20 finish in 10 tournaments during the 2013-14 season. He is the third individual to have two seasons of 25 or more rounds under 80.
Sophomore Alex Shane tied for 26th after a consistent three-round score of 230. Senior Daniel Young also finished on a strong note tying for ninth in program history with 74 rounds under 80.
“We put ourselves in a position to meet our end goal: winning the MVC,” Roche said.
Aaron Ferguson is the Scout’s sports reporter. You can follow him on Twitter @Sports_Aaron.
