The No. 10 ranked golf team competed in the Mason Rudolph Men’s Championship near the campus of No. 6 Vanderbilt and earned a tie for second place. Seniors Ollie Schniederjans and Anders Albertson, along with sophomore Vincent Whaley, each finished in the top 11 individually for the Jackets.
On each day of the tournament, the four best scores out of five for each team are counted to determine the team leaderboards. The Jackets ended the first day of the three-day event in third place out of 14 teams, led by Whaley’s two under par 69. He birdied two of the first four holes for a quick two under par start, then alternated between birdies and bogeys on five of the back nine holes to remain at -2.
Schniederjans and Albertson also finished under par on the day, each shooting 70. Back to back birdies by Schniederjans on holes five and six put him at one under par entering the back nine. After a bogey on hole ten, he rattled off three birdies and a par to reach -3 before suffering two bogeys down the stretch to fall back to -1. Albertson shot 12 straight pars to begin his round before going two over on the par three 13th hole, then bounced back with three birdies to finish at -1 as well.
Four out of the five Jackets competing in the event finished over par on day two, yet the team climbed one spot in the leaderboard to finish the day in second place. Only freshman Chris Petefish was in the red, shooting a two under 69. He had a very consistent second round, shooting one birdie and eight pars on the front nine, and two birdies, six pars, and one bogey to finish at -2. The rest of the team seemed to struggle with the front nine on the day, as Albertson, Whaley and sophomore Michael Hines each shot four strokes worse on those holes compared to the back nine. The par four, 427-yard eighth hole was particularly troubling, as Whaley and Hines both shot double bogey.
Schniederjans and Albertson both finished at an even par 71 to conclude the event on Sunday, while Hines and Whaley finished just one and two strokes behind them, respectively. Schniederjans ran into trouble late in the round, going from even to +3 over the span of two holes but quickly rebounded by shooting three birdies over the final four holes to get back to even. That finish put him into a tie for sixth place on the individual leaderboard for the tournament, shooting an even par 213 over the whole weekend.
Albertson experienced an up-and-down opening nine holes, swinging from -1 to +1, and bogeyed two straight holes to sit at +2 through 13. From there, two birdies on par five holes and a string of pars earned Albertson a tie for eighth place at a one over par 214.
Hines entered the back nine at even par but struggled on holes 10 and 11 with a double bogey and bogey to sit at +3. He recovered with a birdie on the par three 13th, then went -1 the rest of the way to finish the round at +1 and the tournament at +8 in
21st place.
Whaley struggled through the first ten holes, recording four bogeys and zero birdies to sit at +4. He undid some of the damage with two birdies down the stretch to end the day and the tournament at +2, good enough for
11th place.
Petefish’s +7 on the day landed him in 27th place in the tournament with a final score of +9.
Albertson shot -6 on all par fives during the tournament, which was fourth best among all competitors. He and Schniederjans recorded 11 birdies overall, while Whaley and Hines notched ten and nine, respectively.
The team’s overall +5 score tied them with Alabama for second place, while first place Vanderbilt was the only team to shoot under par at -6.
The Jackets will be back in action on Saturday and Sunday at the Robert Kepler Invitational hosted by Ohio State.