Metamora, Ill. - The ICC men's golf team has had a great start to the fall season. First, they nearly won both the Highland 36 and Heartland 36, including Hunter Ficken getting medalist honors at the Highland 36. Well, that quality start just got better on Saturday, with Coach Sean Kennedy's crew collecting both the team trophy as well as another medalist finish for Hunter Ficken (+1/143). Ficken was joined by Luke Markley (5th Place / +7 / 149) and Collin Roche (10th Place / +9 / 151) in the top 10 individually. 

BREAKING DOWN THE BIG WIN
The Cougars were breaking par by plenty. To start, Ficken in the medalist position birdied on 10 of his 36 holes (approx. 28%). Luke Markley birdied on eight holes. Quinn Cox, Peyton Woods, and Brock Taylor all birdied three holes while Collin Roche birdied twice and Jarod Oderwald birdied one hole. That's a grand total of 30 birdies among the Cougar golfers among all 36 holes of golf from this weekend. 

It gets better. Markley eagled hole 3 on his Saturday round. Woods eagled hole 16 on his Friday round. 

By the end, they birdied or eagled 13% of the holes on the course.

This is the second tournament win of the Sean Kennedy era, with the Cougars having won the four-team Statesmen Challenge in the 2023 Spring Season. 

HE SAID IT - QUOTE FROM COACH SEAN KENNEDY
"It was a terrific day for our team finding the resolve to hold off conference foes Danville, Heartland, and Rend Lake.  Even though we weren't quite as sharp as yesterday we executed down the stretch, including Hunter Ficken's clutch birdie on the final hole to finally give the us some breathing room."

"We were happy for freshman Luke Markley (playing as an individual) to get his 1^st top 5 finish."

"And lastly, we can't thank Cougar alumni and Metamora Fields professional Darrell Smock enough for hosting the Cougar Classic on their formidable Championship golf course,"  Kennedy concluded.

FINAL INDIVIDUAL TOTALS
1st Place | +1 | 143 | Hunter Ficken
5th Place | +7 | 149 | Luke Markley
10th Place | +9 | 151 | Collin Roche
14th Place | +10 | 152 | Quinn Cox
28th Place | +15 | 157 | Peyton Woods
41st Place | +19 | 161 | Brock Taylor
60th Place | +25 | 167 | Jarod Oderwald
63rd Place | +25 | 167 | Brady Gruden

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
Duane Chanay Invitational
Hosted by Black Hawk College
@ Pinnacle Country Club - Milan, Illinois
Thursday, September 7th (1PM Start)
& Friday, September 8th (8AM Start)
*Live Scoring Link TBA*