-
-
Fall Schedule Includes Two New Events
The Shockers join the field for the first time at the David Toms Intercollegiate (Oct. 5-6 in Shreveport, La.) and wrap up the first-half slate in the inaugural Intercollegiate at Innesbrook (Oct. 28-29 in Palm Harbor, Fla.).
The latter gives WSU an early peek at Copperhead Course – site of next April's American Athletic Conference Championship.
"This is a big event for us," Easterling said. "Not only is it a chance to tune-up for the conference championship, but Innisbrook is just a great test of golf, in general. It's the same course where the PGA Tour plays for the Valspar Championship, and it will really challenge our guys."
The David Toms is another early-season test against five-time national champion LSU at Shreveport's Southern Trace Country Club. The hosts have won the event in eight of its 10 years of existence.
"Southern Trace is another great challenge for our guys," Easterling said. "It's a beautiful course and there will be some outstanding teams in the field."
I like these two new venues. Not sure the Shocks will fare very well at these tournaments but I like that Coach Easterling is willing to challenge his guys against tough courses and tough opponents.
-
The Shocker men's golf team opens the fall season at the Joe Feganes Marshall Invitational. The Shocks won this event last year and Zac Owens was the medalist as a redshirt freshman.
JOE FEAGANES MARSHALL INVITATIONAL:
Date: Monday-Tuesday; Sept. 9-10
Host: Marshall University
Site: Huntingston, W.Va.
Course: Guyan Golf & Country Club
Par: 71
Yardage: 6,573
Format: 36-18; 5-Count-4
Live Scoring: BirdieFire (Link)
THE FIELD:
The field consists of 16 teams. Wichita State is joined by Belmont, Cleveland State, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, George Washington, Longwood, host Marshall, Mount St. Mary's, Ohio, Saint Francis, VCU, William & Mary, Wright State and Youngstown State. VCU (A-10) and Wright State (Horizon) each qualified for NCAA Regional play last spring after winning their respective conference championships.
SHOCKER LINEUP:
1. Zac Owens (So.) – Defending event champion; team-high four top-10 finishes in 2018-19.
2. Joe Bultman (Fr.) – Collegiate debut for the former Kansas 6A player of the year.
3. Dawson Lewis (So.) – Tied for 14th last year with a season-low 69 in the opening round.
4. Grayson Wallace (So.) – 2018 Oklahoma Class 5A State Champion.
5. Lake Leroux (Jr.) – Hutchinson CC transfer makes his NCAA D-I debut.
1st year head coach Judd Easterling's lineup for the opener is based on cumulative scores from two weeks of qualifying rounds. Owens, whose 2018-19 season stroke average (73.74) is tops among returning Shockers, continued that trend by shooting a team-best 19-under par across seven rounds. Freshman Joe Bultman nipped at his heels, finishing just two shots back.
Pretty young and inexperienced Shocker team. Will be interesting to see what they can do.Comment
-
RH: Two Left-handers On Hand For Shocker Golf
Grier Jones coached one left-handed golfer in his 24 seasons as men's coach at Wichita State. Tom McCurdy is in his 13thseason as women's coach at Wichita State and hasn't coached one during that time.
Judd Easterling topped them in his first season as head coach at Wichita State.
Freshmen Joe Bultman and Garin Ihrig are his lefties, the ones used to bad jokes, second looks and equipment challenges their right-handed counterparts don't deal with.
Comment
-
Not only does Coach Easterling have two lefties in his lineup but he has a Juco transfer, Lake Leroux out of Hutch on his roster and with this Class of 2020 commit will add another Hutch Juco player next year:
I don't recall many juco golfers coming to WSU in the past so it will be interesting to see how these guys work out.
Here are a few articles about Charlie Crockett, who is from England, from his freshman year at Hutch:
DRAGONS QUALIFY FOR NATIONALS; CROCKETT DISTRICT/REGION CHAMP
Freshman Charlie Crockett made Blue Dragon history on Monday by becoming the first Hutch men's golfer to win both District III and Region VI individual championships in the same season.
Crockett won his fifth individual title of the season with rounds of 69 and 70 on Monday for a 36-hole total of 5-under 139. Crockett is the first Blue Dragon district champion since Alex Wasinger in 2007 and first Region VI champion since Mike Mueller in 2011.
CHARLIE CROCKETT NAMED NICKLAUS AWARD SEMIFINALIST
Hutchinson Community College freshman golfer Charlie Crockett was named one of 30 semifinalists for the NJCAA Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Awards presented by Barbasol.
CROCKETT HONORED AT NJCAA GOLF BANQUET
Crockett was named the 2019 Phil Mickelson NJCAA Division I Outstanding Freshman on Monday night. In addition to that award, Crockett was named a PING first-team NJCAA All-American, and a member of the 2019 Golf Coaches Association of America All-Freshman team.
Also, Crockett was named one of the 6 finalists for the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year.
DRAGONS SAVE BEST FOR FINAL NJCAA ROUND
Charlie Crockett posted his Blue Dragon career-low round with a 6-under 66 in the 4th and final round of the NJCAA National Championship. Crockett had a pair of 67s in the fall season. The 2019 Jayhawk Conference and Region VI champion had Friday's round as low as 7-under with birdies on Nos. 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15 and 16. The only blemish on his incredible round was a bogey on No. 18.
Unfortunately, after carding a 73 in Round 3 Crockett's score was thrown out due to a scoring technicality. Not sure what that was exactly. As a result Hutch had to use a 79 in place of that 73 on their team score but they would have still finished 10th in the team standings either way. What it did do was knock Crockett out of the medalist race. Had that 73 stood Crocket would have finished in a tie for 10th individually with a 4-under par 72-73-73-66 = 284 scorecard. His response of bouncing back with a career low 66 in the final round has to be a positive I would think.
I haven't been able to find any scoring stats for these guys. Not sure Leroux will be a key factor for the Shocks this year or next but Crockett looks intriguing. Will be interesting to see how he does at Hutch this season.
Last edited by 1972Shocker; September 8, 2019, 12:10 PM.Comment
-
The Shockers shot 284 and 283 for 1-under par 567 total in the first 2 rounds of the Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitation today. While at first glance that seems pretty solid it was only good for 9th place in the 16 team field and 24 shots behind leader Dayton on a course that was receptive to low scoring.
https://goshockers.com/news/2019/9/9...n-day-one.aspx
Redshirt sophomore Zac Owens had a very nice 5-under par 66 in round 2 that included an eagle, 3 birdies and 14 pars.Comment
-
After shooting 1-under or the first 2 rounds of the Joe Feganes Marshall Invitational the Shocks struggled to a 13-over 297 to finish 11th in the 16 team field.
The Shocks finished 43 shots back of the winner, VCU. Considering the field in this tournament not a great start for Coach Easterling . The Shocks have a long way to go to be a factor in the AAC.
Last edited by 1972Shocker; September 10, 2019, 07:29 PM.Comment
-
After the 1st two rounds of the Ram Masters Invitational in Ft. Collins the Shocks sit in 16th place in the field fo 17 teams besting only Creighton at this point and a distant 46 shocks behind leader Colorado State.
Sophomores Zac Owens and Dawson Lewis were okay shooting 2-over 142 and 4-over 144, respectively. But they received no help from the teammates. Fr. Joe Bultman is 15-over which is tied fro 87th in the 96-player field, Jr. Lake Leroux is 17-over tied for 89th and So. Grayson Wallace is 20-over for sole possession of 95th place, 1 stroke out of dead last.
Maybe the altitude got to some of the guys.
Have to have more than 2 guys playing decent golf to be competitive as a team.
Comment
-
The Shocks had their best round of the tournament at 9-over 289 after shooitng 22-over in Round 1 and 14-over in round 2. The Shocks moved up 1 spot from 16th after the first 2 rounds to finish 15th in the 17 team field. The finished 54 shots behind host and winner Colorado State.
So. Zac Owens at 5-over 215 finished in a tie for 28th place among the 96 golfers in the field. He was the only Shocker in the top half of the field. So. Dawson Lewis finished in a tied for 50th at 8-over 218. Looks like a lot of guys bunched together in the middle of the pack. Jr. Lake Leroux finished in a tie for 74th at 16-over. Started poorly, finished strong as his socres were 82-75-69 Hopefully, Lake has found something to build on. Fr. Joe Bultman finished tied for 82nd at 19-over and So. Grayson Wallace tied fror 89th at 23-over.
Not a great showing for the Shocks.
Comment
-
Comment
-
Kind of a good news-bad news weekend for the Shocker men at the David Toms Intercollegiate in Shreveport, LA hosted by LSU.
The good news is the Shocks shot a 4-under par 860 for the tournament. So.. Zac Owens was 4-under for the tournament and Fr. Joe Bultman was 2-under for the tournament. So. Dawson Lewis just missed out on even part finish at 1-over for the tournament.
The bad news is that 6 other teams finished ahead of the Shocks on a course that apparently was very receptive to scoring as the Shocks finished 7th in the 12 team field. Speaking of scoring host and winner LSU pretty much lapped the field with a 63-under par winning score. Zac finished in a tie for 16th and Joe was tied for 20th.
As far as I know it was a regulation course and not a par-3 course or a miniature golf course.
Comment
-
The Shocks are off to a strong start in the desert at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate hosted by New Mexico State in Las Cruces. This course is the site of Grier Jones' 1968 national championship and has been a staple on the Schocker schedule.
The Shocks put up a tournament leading 2-under 282 in Round 1 with led by So. Dawson Lewis with a 4-under 67 and So. Zac Owens with a 3-under 68. Fr. Joe Bultman contributed a 2-over 73 and So. Brock Polhill a 3-over 74. So. Grayson Wallace had the throw away score of 7- over 78.
The Shockers continue to lead the tournament at 3-under about midway through Round 2. They have a 7 shot lead over New Mexico State. UTEP is in 3rd place 11 shots back.
Not a real storng field making up the 9-team tournament but still it seems like a pretty solid start for the Shocks. Last year the Shocks finished 9th in this tournament out of 11 teams including most of the teams in this year's tournament. The Shocks shot 59-over par last year which was 38 shots behind winner New Mexico State. Scoring is much better this year which might indicate either better weather conditions or and easier course setup.
Live Stats
The Shocks finished off Round 2 matching their round 1 score of 2-under 282 and they continue to sit atop the leader board with the final round tomorrow. The Shocks lead New Mexico State by 11 strokes, Abilene Christian by 15 strokes and UTEP by 20 strokes.
The Shocker team put together a really solid 5 scores in Round 2. Dawson carded a 2-under 69 to go with his 67 in Round 1 and he sits atop the individual leader board at 6-under. Zac shot a 1-over 73 to goe with his 68 in round 1 and is tied for 3rd. Grayson bounced back from his 78 in round 1 to shoot a 1-under 70 in round 2. Joe shot even par 71. Brock had a decent round of 2-over 73 which was the throw away round. This is the kind of across the board scoring the Shocks need to be a factor.
Actually, it could have been quite a bit better. Zac bogeyed his final 2 holes, Dawson who started on #2 double bogeyed #18 and Brock, who started on #4, was at even part through 15 holes before a double bogey on #1. The Shocks easily could have been 8-under in Round 2.
Coming into this tournament HC Judd Easterling said "We've got to find that 54-hole tournament. We've got to put all 54 holes together where all five guys are playing well, and I think this is a tournament we can go and compete for a victory."
So far, so good. My guess is the hole locations will be tougher tomorrow but the Shocks are in great shape to win this tournament if they can finish off with one more solid round of golf. Let's get 'er done guys.
GoShockers.com Round 1 and 2 RecapLast edited by 1972Shocker; October 15, 2019, 02:55 PM.Comment
-
New Mexico State made a run at the Shocks on their home course in the final round of the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate with the low team round of the tournament at 7-under 277. However, the Shocks were good enough to hold them off as the shot 1-over 285 to finish the tournament at 3-under fror a 3-shot cushion over the host team.
Shocker So. Dawson Lewis ended up in a tie with New Mexico State's Aidan Thomas at the top of the individual leaderboard at 6-under par after shooting even par in round 3. Thomas shot a 6-under 65 to forge a tie with Dawson. Not sure if they will have a playoff or not for medalist honors. The par 5 15th hole probably cost Dawson sole possession of the lead. After birdies in both rounds 1 and 2 Dawson double-bogeyed that hole in round 3 while Thomas birdied the hole for a 3 shot swing.
So. Zac Owens finished at 1-under for the tournament to tie fror 4th while So. Grayson Wallace, after a 7-over 78 in round 1, put together rounds of 70 and 67 in rounds 2 and 3 to finish at 3-over and in a tie for 11th. Fr. Joe Bultman and So. Brock Polhill both shot 3-over in the final round. Brock was hurt by a double bogey on the Par 5 4th hole.
A heckuva turn around from the 59-over par, 9th place finish in this tournament last year.
All-in-all I would think Coach Easterling will be very pleased with this effort for his Shocker team that consisted of 4 sophomores and 1 freshman.
The Shocks close out their fall season at the Intercollegiate at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Florida on the course where the AAC Championship will be played this spring. This is a great move to play in this tournament. Not sure if any other AAC teams will be in the field or not. It will be interesting to see if the Shocks can carryover the experience of their win this week.
Herb Wimberly Live Stats
GoShockers.com RecapComment
-
Shockers Set for Fall Finale at Innisbrook
The Shocker men finish there fall season today and tomorrow at the Intercollegiate at Innisbrook on the Copperhead Course located on the NE side of the Tampa metro area. This is really good tournament for the Shocks to particpate in as the AAC Conference Championship will be conducted on this course next spring.
Other AAC teams in the 16 team field include South Florida, Memphis, ECU, Houston, UCF and Temple.
Live Stats
After round 1 the Shocks are tied for 8th at 11-over par 295. The Shocks got solid rounds from their #4 and #5 slots as Fr. Joe Bultman shot an even par 71 and So. Brock Polhill shot a 2-over 73. So. Grayson Wallace shot a 4-over 75 out the the #3 slot, So. Dawson Lewis shot 5-over 76 in the #1 slot ans So. Zac Owens, in the #2 slot, had the throw away score at 6-over 77.
Hopefully, Joe and Brock can continue their solid play and Dawson, Zac and Grayson can bring their scores down in rounds 2 and 3.
Hope the guys are enjoying the 87 degree weather.
Last edited by 1972Shocker; October 28, 2019, 03:35 PM.Comment
Tweet
Comment