In the first Bradley men’s golf match of the year, and one where the Braves played on natural grass for the first time since the fall, a good showing is not always expected.
The Braves fell behind early to the far more experienced SIU-Edwardsville squad and couldn’t climb out of the hole, eventually losing 304-287 on Saturday.
“On paper, we got beat pretty badly, but they’ve got a tournament under their belt and have been playing outside already,” head coach Jeff Roche said. “The purpose for us was to get out there and just compete and feel the pressure, so we definitely accomplished what we were trying to do.”
In the loss, the Braves were led by graduate Alex Ciaramitaro who finished one under par with a 71, tying for third, and by freshman John Stillman who tied in fifth with an even-par 72. Stillman’s 72 was a college career best, who started off hot and faltered slightly at the end to finish at even.
“I was pretty pumped about some of the shots I made and overall just pretty stoked to just be playing again,” Ciaramitaro said.
The Braves were rounded out by freshman Josh Kirkham who shot 80, junior Jalen Hodges who carded an 81, sophomore Roy Radke who shot an 84 and freshman Brady Kreiter who closed out the Braves with an 86.
Despite the good showing from Ciaramitaro and Stillman, Roche seemed to be more excited about how his group handled themselves by not focusing on things they couldn’t control.
“The thing I was most pleased with was how we handled ourselves mentally,” Roche said. “We haven’t competed outside, really, and through the competitiveness, you want to win, and we held our composure by controlling what we were able to control ourselves.”
Roche seemed to place the shortcomings in the loss on the overall inexperience of the group and trying to do too much when things weren’t going the players’ way.
“When things start going bad in golf, sometimes you tend to guide it and start missing even more,” Roche said. “Sometimes you just need to ease up and watch one go in.”
Roche hopes to see some improvement over the next couple of days as the Braves will try to play some rounds to assess where each player stands. Finding where everyone’s current yardages are at will help the players create a better strategy and play a better round the next time out.
The Braves will play a rematch versus SIUe at home next week and hope to gain more experience before their first tournament at Missouri State on March 22.
