As fall begins, so does the Bradley men’s golf season. Head coach Jeff Roche recently revealed the team schedule for the season. Their first tournament is Sept. 9-10.
They will travel to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Madison, IL for the Derek Dolenc Invitational. Bradley looks to improve on their performance from last year in Madison, which netted them a 13th-place finish out of 16 teams.
“The consistency of our scores has gotten much better,” Roche said “I like to look at our worst-case scores. Those have been stabilizing and are now at a much lower level. This stabilization is important because we’re going to have good and bad days out there. We’ve got to manage the bad days well to keep ourselves in the tournament. That’s our strongest skill. They’ve gotten better at managing themselves, which is a sign of golf maturity and overall improvement.”
Next, the Braves travel to Kansas State to compete in the Wildcat Invitational on Sept. 16-17. The last time Bradley attended the Wildcat Invitational was in 2022 when the team placed sixth and fifth out of 15.
The Braves finish their three-week stretch in Des Moines, Iowa for the Zach Johnson Invitational on Sept. 23 and 24. The last time Bradley competed in Des Moines back in 2018, the team placed first; however, this is a completely different and younger group than in 2018.
“There are a lot of new faces and younger guys on the team this year. I’ve been here the longest out of everyone. I have to show the younger guys how to adapt and how we do things around here,” junior Connor Hamm said.
The Braves have their last tournament of the fall on Oct. 14-15 at Kennesaw State University in the Pinetree Intercollegiate. As a team, they hope not to repeat their previous Kennesaw State efforts, as they placed ninth out of 10 teams last fall season.
Sophomore Carter Stevenson had a good day shooting a 69 in the tournament’s second round.
“I would rather place higher in tournaments,” Stevenson said. “You want to play well and shoot under par; however, the weather conditions are never going to be perfect. It might be blowing out 25 miles an hour to the right. If you can scrape around and shoot over par for three days, you’re going to be in the top 10 of the tournament. Overall, I’m not paying attention to the score, I’m trying to go out there to have fun and maybe make a few birdies here and there.”
The Braves start their spring season on Feb. 15 in Savannah, Georgia for the Savannah Intercollegiate. They’ll then go to Missouri State University for the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate on March 17, Mobile Bay Intercollegiate at Alabama on the 23-25, Butler University for the Don Bendow Invitational and Arkansas State Intercollegiate on April 14 -15.
“Help with their short game and some mental management. I’m not trying to make their weaknesses their strengths, but I want to make them as strong as possible,” Roche said. “They’re not going to go from a weakness to a strength overnight. So we’re just trying to make some incremental changes. This allows their strengths to shine so they can feel more confident on the green and have more fun.”
Bradley men’s golf’s future is bright, given the team’s youth. Players like Connor Hamm and Carter Stevenson can ensure the present is just as fruitful as they lead the way. The Braves are in for a good season.
