Friday, April 28
Orlando, FL
7:30 AM
University of Richmond
vs
Atlantic 10 Championship
Spiders Place Fifth at A-10 Championship
04/30/2023 | Men's Golf
ORLANDO, Fla. — On a day where most everything was moving at the Atlantic 10 Men's Golf Championship, the Richmond Spiders stayed in place. The Spiders Sunday's final round in fifth place on the 12-team leaderboard, unchanged from their position entering the round, which was played in steady 20 mph to 30 mph winds, with gusts up to 40 mph.
"Conditions were brutal, to be honest," said Spiders Coach Adam Decker. "They were a lot like what we experienced over in Ireland, a lot like what we experienced at the Cutter Creek event — very gusty and swirly. It wasn't really one direction, the wind, so you kind of got fooled a little bit sometimes. That, coupled with the tough course setup and hard hole locations and the final-round pressure, made it the perfect storm for high scoring conditions."
The average score on the Nicklaus Course at Reunion Resort Sunday was 78.2 strokes, an increase of more than two-and-half strokes from Saturday. Richmond combined for a team score of 18-over par (306) in Round 3, finishing the event at 25 strokes over par (889). The Spiders finished two strokes behind fourth-place George Washington (+23) and 15 shots in front of sixth-place Rhode Island (+40).
"I feel like we had the day we needed to move up and try to catch the leaders, but unfortunately we just came up a little bit short," said Decker.
Sophomore Cole Ekert was Richmond's top individual finisher at 1-over par (217), tied for sixth in the field. Ekert shot 77 (+5) Sunday, with four birdies, seven bogeys, and one double bogey. He finished the event with 16 birdies, more than any other player in the field.
"We played in a lot of wind this spring," said Ekert. "So I felt pretty comfortable in it. I didn't hit a lot of good shots, despite that. I knew scores would be high and I just tried to stay patient. Even though I made a couple bogeys, mentally I was still in it and stayed pretty positive the whole day."
It was Ekert's fifth top-six finish in six events this spring. After the tournament, he was one of 10 golfers voted to the A-10 All-Conference team for their performance during the course of the season. It was Ekert's second straight All-Conference selection.
"It was really cool," said Ekert of the honor. "Less of a surprise than last year because I felt like I played a little better and a bit more consistently this year. It tells me I'm doing something right and I've got to keep grinding and doing what I'm doing."
Ekert is the second Spider ever to earn All-Atlantic 10 honors as a freshman and sophomore, joining Matt Lowe, who did it in 2015-16.
Freshman Drew Carlin placed 13th at 5-over par (221), securing his third top-20 finish of the season. Carlin played the par 3s at the Nicklaus Course in 2-over par during the event, tied for sixth best in the field.
"I really liked the play from the younger guys. That was exciting, to see Cole and Drew play well," said Decker. "A lot of good experience for Drew for his first A-10 Championship. Just to go through it and kind of know that he's able to compete and one of the better players in the conference. Hopefully that will give him some confidence going forward."
Senior Ben Cooper tied for 24th at 11-over par (227) in the final event of his Richmond career. Cooper led UR with a 1-over 73 Sunday, jumping 15 spots up the individual leaderboard. Junior Garrett Clark finished two strokes behind Cooper at 13-over par and in a tie for 30th place.
The Spiders other golfer playing in the final event of his career, fifth-year Michael Childress, was forced to withdraw minutes before the start of his final round due to illness. Senior Lou Baker, traveling with the team as an alternate, took his spot in the lineup.
"[Childress] handled it with the utmost grace and maturity, as I would expect from him. He's a total team guy," said Decker. "I knew it would be tough for Lou to get a five-minute warmup and 'Hey, you're on the first tee in the hardest weather conditions we've seen all week,' but he did well. I'm glad he was there to go and tee it up for us."
Sunday's result was the 17th time in 17 full seasons under Adam Decker that Richmond finished in the top five at the Atlantic 10 Championship.
"Conditions were brutal, to be honest," said Spiders Coach Adam Decker. "They were a lot like what we experienced over in Ireland, a lot like what we experienced at the Cutter Creek event — very gusty and swirly. It wasn't really one direction, the wind, so you kind of got fooled a little bit sometimes. That, coupled with the tough course setup and hard hole locations and the final-round pressure, made it the perfect storm for high scoring conditions."
The average score on the Nicklaus Course at Reunion Resort Sunday was 78.2 strokes, an increase of more than two-and-half strokes from Saturday. Richmond combined for a team score of 18-over par (306) in Round 3, finishing the event at 25 strokes over par (889). The Spiders finished two strokes behind fourth-place George Washington (+23) and 15 shots in front of sixth-place Rhode Island (+40).
"I feel like we had the day we needed to move up and try to catch the leaders, but unfortunately we just came up a little bit short," said Decker.
Sophomore Cole Ekert was Richmond's top individual finisher at 1-over par (217), tied for sixth in the field. Ekert shot 77 (+5) Sunday, with four birdies, seven bogeys, and one double bogey. He finished the event with 16 birdies, more than any other player in the field.
"We played in a lot of wind this spring," said Ekert. "So I felt pretty comfortable in it. I didn't hit a lot of good shots, despite that. I knew scores would be high and I just tried to stay patient. Even though I made a couple bogeys, mentally I was still in it and stayed pretty positive the whole day."
It was Ekert's fifth top-six finish in six events this spring. After the tournament, he was one of 10 golfers voted to the A-10 All-Conference team for their performance during the course of the season. It was Ekert's second straight All-Conference selection.
"It was really cool," said Ekert of the honor. "Less of a surprise than last year because I felt like I played a little better and a bit more consistently this year. It tells me I'm doing something right and I've got to keep grinding and doing what I'm doing."
Ekert is the second Spider ever to earn All-Atlantic 10 honors as a freshman and sophomore, joining Matt Lowe, who did it in 2015-16.
Freshman Drew Carlin placed 13th at 5-over par (221), securing his third top-20 finish of the season. Carlin played the par 3s at the Nicklaus Course in 2-over par during the event, tied for sixth best in the field.
"I really liked the play from the younger guys. That was exciting, to see Cole and Drew play well," said Decker. "A lot of good experience for Drew for his first A-10 Championship. Just to go through it and kind of know that he's able to compete and one of the better players in the conference. Hopefully that will give him some confidence going forward."
Senior Ben Cooper tied for 24th at 11-over par (227) in the final event of his Richmond career. Cooper led UR with a 1-over 73 Sunday, jumping 15 spots up the individual leaderboard. Junior Garrett Clark finished two strokes behind Cooper at 13-over par and in a tie for 30th place.
The Spiders other golfer playing in the final event of his career, fifth-year Michael Childress, was forced to withdraw minutes before the start of his final round due to illness. Senior Lou Baker, traveling with the team as an alternate, took his spot in the lineup.
"[Childress] handled it with the utmost grace and maturity, as I would expect from him. He's a total team guy," said Decker. "I knew it would be tough for Lou to get a five-minute warmup and 'Hey, you're on the first tee in the hardest weather conditions we've seen all week,' but he did well. I'm glad he was there to go and tee it up for us."
Sunday's result was the 17th time in 17 full seasons under Adam Decker that Richmond finished in the top five at the Atlantic 10 Championship.
Players Mentioned
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