2008 Woodie Awards
Golf starts spring with new captain
By Randy Klins
Issue date: 3/4/05 Section: Sports
After a strong finish at the PSAC championships this past fall, an experienced Slippery Rock University golf team looks to have a successful 2005 spring season.
SRU finished the fall season with a third place finish at the PSAC championships in Hershey, only two strokes behind the conference champion, Millersville.
The Rock has all of its top players returning for the spring season with the exception of last semester's captain, senior Mario Verticelli.
The loss of Verticelli leaves a void that will be filled by the return of junior Matt Walsh, who sat out the fall season due to injury.
Coach Dave Crunkleton said that is would be great to have both Verticelli and Walsh on the course during the same season, but having a healthy Walsh back is definitely a good replacement for his former captain.
"It would be nice to have both of them at the same time," Crunkleton said.
SRU is traveling to South Carolina on Saturday to begin a week of spring practicing before officially starting its season on March 9 at the Lonnie Burton Invitational in Hilton Head, S.C.
Although SRU will not have the services of Verticelli, the team will once again be competitive with the return of Walsh and four other former letter winners, including new captain, junior Adam Scott.
Crunkleton is looking to Scott and Walsh to be his top golfers during the next couple months.
"Adam and Matt are going to be one and two," Crunkleton said. "They are going to be the two best players."
Scott and Walsh will be joined by returning all-conference golfers, seniors Burnie Smucker and Chris Marron.
Smucker finished fifth overall in the conference tournament last October with a two-day total of 151 and Marron finished with a 10th place finish overall, carding a 158 in the two-day event.
Junior Adam Schuster will join those four as SRU's fifth man. All five starters have at least a year of experience under their belts.
At the end of March, the Rock will tee off at the Marine Corps Invitational in Camp Lejeune, N.C. before heading home to finish out the season with a couple local events. Although there will not be another PSAC championship event in the spring, the competition will be tough.
"We have four really hard tournaments coming up," Crunkleton said. "It will be hard to gauge how the players are."
Crunkleton said that following the improvement last fall, the individual standings should be on the rise.
"If they improve as much as they did from the beginning of the fall to the end of the fall that would be great," Crunkleton said. "They can improve stroke wise, but they may not finish as well because the competition will be tougher."
SRU finished the fall season with a third place finish at the PSAC championships in Hershey, only two strokes behind the conference champion, Millersville.
The Rock has all of its top players returning for the spring season with the exception of last semester's captain, senior Mario Verticelli.
The loss of Verticelli leaves a void that will be filled by the return of junior Matt Walsh, who sat out the fall season due to injury.
Coach Dave Crunkleton said that is would be great to have both Verticelli and Walsh on the course during the same season, but having a healthy Walsh back is definitely a good replacement for his former captain.
"It would be nice to have both of them at the same time," Crunkleton said.
SRU is traveling to South Carolina on Saturday to begin a week of spring practicing before officially starting its season on March 9 at the Lonnie Burton Invitational in Hilton Head, S.C.
Although SRU will not have the services of Verticelli, the team will once again be competitive with the return of Walsh and four other former letter winners, including new captain, junior Adam Scott.
Crunkleton is looking to Scott and Walsh to be his top golfers during the next couple months.
"Adam and Matt are going to be one and two," Crunkleton said. "They are going to be the two best players."
Scott and Walsh will be joined by returning all-conference golfers, seniors Burnie Smucker and Chris Marron.
Smucker finished fifth overall in the conference tournament last October with a two-day total of 151 and Marron finished with a 10th place finish overall, carding a 158 in the two-day event.
Junior Adam Schuster will join those four as SRU's fifth man. All five starters have at least a year of experience under their belts.
At the end of March, the Rock will tee off at the Marine Corps Invitational in Camp Lejeune, N.C. before heading home to finish out the season with a couple local events. Although there will not be another PSAC championship event in the spring, the competition will be tough.
"We have four really hard tournaments coming up," Crunkleton said. "It will be hard to gauge how the players are."
Crunkleton said that following the improvement last fall, the individual standings should be on the rise.
"If they improve as much as they did from the beginning of the fall to the end of the fall that would be great," Crunkleton said. "They can improve stroke wise, but they may not finish as well because the competition will be tougher."
