Rams bounce back from poor performance at the Nelson to finish fourth at the Barona

After the CSU men’s golf team finished in 13th place on Sunday

at the Nelson Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., head coach Jamie

Bermel used two words to sum up his thoughts on the team’s

performance – “extremely disappointed.”

However, after the Rams’ fourth-place finish Tuesday at the

Barona Collegiate Cup in Lakeside, Calif., it took more than two

words to articulate how Bermel felt about his team’s improved

performance.

“I was real happy (with the way the team played),” Bermel said.

“I think the team played real solid … This gave us a big

confidence boost.”

CSU finished with a three-round team score of 842, 22 strokes

under par. Fellow Mountain West Conference team Brigham Young won

the tournament with a score of 822.

Following the tournament, Bermel said his players put forth a

good team effort. Three team members finished in the top 10 in the

individual standings.

Sophomore Derrick Whiting finished seventh overall and led all

Rams with a three-round score of 207. Junior Kevin McAlpine and

sophomore teammate Aaron Weston each shot 208, which tied them for

ninth place. Junior Nate Pettitt finished tied for 55th place with

a score of 221 and senior John Hayes shot a 225, earning a

69th-place finish.

Whiting said he was happy to finish seventh among the 78-player

field, but he was also glad the team was able to recover from an

upsetting performance at the Nelson and play well at the

Barona.

“I was very pleased (with how the team played),” Whiting said.

“For the most part, we capitalized on our opportunities.”

Bermel said he wasn’t sure how the team would respond to playing

the second of two back-to-back tournaments that started with a poor

performance at the Nelson Invitational. After wrapping up the

Nelson, which was played Friday through Sunday at the Stanford Golf

Course, the Rams traveled to Lakeside, Calif., where they began

play on Monday at the Barona Creek Golf Course.

“I was a little concerned after what happened at Stanford,”

Bermel said. “Everyone was a little down … But after (the

tournament), I was real happy.”

Because the Barona was the last tournament of the fall season,

Bermel said it was important for the team to bounce back from its

disappointing performance at Stanford and finish the season on a

positive note.

“I didn’t want to see the team play bad for the second time in a

row and think about that all off-season,” Bermel said.

The Rams will have nearly four months off before their next

tournament. They will kick off the spring season on Feb. 23 at the

John Burns Intercollegiate tournament in Honolulu.

Although Bermel said the off-season will allow the players a

chance to catch up on their studies and enjoy the social life of

college, he doesn’t expect the team to completely distance itself

from the golf course.

The team will continue to participate in one-hour practices

during each day of the week but will be given weekends off. Bermel

said during practices the players will spend much of their time

weightlifting, with some time spent working on their swings.

Whiting said he thinks the Rams’ impressive performance at

Barona Creek will give them confidence that will carry over into

the spring season.

“We obviously still have a lot of room for improvement, but it

was important to show that we can still play well,” Whiting said.

“I think we can win a tournament in the future.”