Bradley’s men’s golf team was met with inclement weather during the second round of the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate in Springfield, Missouri, on March 21.
For junior Josh Kirkham, lightning and rain proved to be no problem en route to a career-best effort, as he carded a 67 in round two to lead the charge for the Braves in an event shortened to 36 holes.
“It wasn’t something we haven’t seen before, living in Illinois in the spring,” Kirkham said. “High winds … gusts up to 20 or 25 [miles per hour] and the rain, but we never really faced any torrential downpour. When you get on tight golf courses, the wind funnels in different areas through the valleys and trees so having a good understanding of what direction the wind was coming out of was huge.”
Kirkham’s round of 67 was tied for the second-lowest score in program history and performance earned him Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors one day after the conclusion of the tournament.
Resuming on Tuesday, Oral Roberts earned the top spot at the tournament, shooting 15-under-par as a team and beating out second-place Valparaiso by seven strokes. Wichita State (-5) rounded out the top three schools, with the rest of the field of 16 all recording scores over par.
Bradley (+27) finished in 14th place, three strokes behind Tennessee Tech. Individually, Kirkham impressed by tying for the sixth-best score of the tournament at three-under-par.
“Josh played very well and was consistent; that’s what he’s capable of,” head coach Jeff Roche said. “Overall, there were a lot of positives that came from [the tournament]. We got off to a slow start, [and] then from that point we started to trust a little bit more in what we’ve been working on.”
Kirkham was followed by graduate Aaeri Krishnan (+10) and junior Roy Radke (+12). Fellow junior Nick Armbrust (+13) came in one stroke behind, and sophomore Brady Kreiter (+16) rounded out the Braves’ five starters.
“Aaeri’s still got a lot of gas left in the tank to get where he’s capable, but we’re starting to see more and more spurts of what he’s capable of doing,” Roche said. “Nick had a very strong finish at the end of the first round … [and] Brady really did a good job at holding himself together. Between the first round for Nick and the second round for Brady, it was some of the lowest scores that they’ve had.”
Roche added that Radke “did a really good job at staying in there,” noting that it was only the team’s second tournament following the winter.
Next up for the Braves is a trip to Indianapolis, Indiana, where the team will look to build further momentum in the Butler Spring Invitational at Highland Golf and Country Club.
