Courtesy of Emory Athletics
Senior Johnathan Chen chips onto the green. Chen led the Eagles last weekend with a score of 149 at the Navy Spring Invitational. The Eagles finished in tenth in the tournament.
The Eagles wrapped up their spring tournament season this past week, finishing in a 10th place tie at the Navy Spring Invitational. The 36-hole tournament was played April 18-19 on the 6,528 yard par-71 Naval Academy Golf Club in Annapolis, Md.
Head Coach John Sjoberg spoke highly of the experience that the team had.
“This tournament was something we added last year; it’s a unique trip to come play a Division I tournament at the end of the year,” he said. “It’s a good field for us, a handful of Patriot League and Ivy League schools, so it was great to compete with some of those Division I schools.”
The only Division III team amongst 18 teams, the Eagles tied for 10th place with a score of 610 (308-302) over the two-day tournament. Senior Johnathan Chen spearheaded the team effort, finishing in a 17th place tie in the 90-player field with a score of 149 (77-72).
“We played much better the second day and fairly well for 14 holes. Seven, eight and nine are tough holes, so it was a tough finishing stretch,” Sjoberg said.
Freshman Colby Hipp followed four shots behind with a card of 153 (72-81), good for a 38th place tie. Senior Alec Berens recorded a 156 (78-78), and senior Will Roth shot 159 (81-78). Junior Alex Wunderlich rounded out the scores at 162 (88-74).
“The Navy tournament is one of my favorite tournaments that we play. It is great to see how we stack up against top Division I teams,” Berens said. “We had the opportunity to play with the Navy team the second day and talk to them about life at the Naval Academy. It was great to get an inside look at their day-to-day lives versus ours.”
The team will now wait the next two weeks for the remaining NCAA tournaments to play out, after which the NCAA will reveal bids for nationals on May 5th. The Eagles are hoping to get a team bid, but if not the NCAA may select an individual to compete in the national tournament next month. With three of the five members of the traveling team graduating this year, the Eagles will miss their veteran players.
“Next year will be difficult without Alec, Will and Johnathan,” the freshman Hipp said. “We can never replicate what those guys brought to the team, and I will miss them all. I hope I can pay it forward to a younger teammate and be as good a leader to him as they were to me.”
Consequently, with three traveling spots opening up for the fall, the team is looking for the younger players to step up to the challenge.
“It’ll be very different next year without those three seniors, and I’m curious to see who comes back in the fall ready to take advantage of that opportunity, because it’s going to be wide open,” Sjoberg said.
With the spring season wrapped up, the Eagles are taking it easy for the next couple weeks and reflecting on their game.
“This tournament marked our last collegiate regular season event, and looking back on my four years, I have nothing but positive takeaways,” Chen said. Mike Phillips and John Sjoberg have really made my four years here at Emory truly a great experience.”
– By Seanette Ting
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
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