Morris, Ill. - If you were traveling up to Nettle Creek Golf Club in Morris on Friday morning to see coach Sean Kennedy's ICC men's golf team in action, you quite possibly could've used the wind as a method of transportation. See, to start, the Cougars had to deal with 20 mile per hour sustained winds, with gusts approaching the 30 mph threshold. By the way, rain was creeping in during the early hours of the afternoon. Bearing all of that in mind, still a remarkable result, as ICC would come away with its third tournament victory of the fall, and place two individuals within the top five.
Now, that being said, Coach Kennedy, not just by way of winning the tournament, was all smiles when talking about the team's performance.
"Really pleased with the bounce back attitude and effort today after two consecutive tournaments where we did not put our best foot forward," he said.
The most recent tournament, the MWAC Fall Championship in Bloomington, the Cougars had plenty of approach shots that were well executed, just not quite in the pin. Those quality shots would find their way to Morris as well.
Collin Roche, who would finish the tournament in second place individually, pitched a shot near the 17th green to mere inches from the pin, and would tap in for par. He also would have a try at birdie from roughly 15 feet away that ever so slightly grazed the cup and spun to a halt just above the top of the pin. Roche would again settle for a par on the 18th hole and lock in his second place position.
Circling back to the conditions, Coach Kennedy said that the "freshmen got a wonderful feel for what March golf will be like next spring", the second-year head coach said with a laugh.
Fighting through all that they fought through,
Hunter Ficken would also fight his way back into the top five of a leaderboard again, finishing in fifth place by tournament's end.
SCORING FOR INDIVIDUALS COUNTED TOWARDS TEAM SCORING
Collin Roche | T-2nd Place | E | 71
Hunter Ficken | 5th Place | +3 | 74
Peyton Woods | +4 | 75
Brock Taylor | +4 | 75
Luke Markley | +10 | 81
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
2023 Saints Fall Classic
@ Warren Golf Course (Home Course for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish)
South Bend, Indiana
Monday, October 9th & Tuesday, October 10th
10:00 AM Start on Both Days
Hosted by Holy Cross College
