Photo courtesy of virginiasports.com
The University of Virginia’s Men’s Golf team finished up their fall season on October 22nd at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate in Alpharetta, Ga. Despite the fact that 13 of the top 15 teams in the tournament were ranked in Golfstat’s top 50 of men’s collegiate golf, UVa was still able to place eighth. As a team, the Cavaliers ended the tournament shooting 15-under 849, with junior Thomas Walsh and freshman Jimmie Massie leading the team with 12th place finishes.
The Carpet Capitol, in Dalton, Ga., was the first tournament of the fall season, taking place on October 8th, 9th, and 10th. Senior Danny Walker led the Cavaliers in scoring for the sixth time in his career, finishing the three days with a 3-over 219. The Cavaliers as a team had a 54-hole total of 903, placing 14th out of 15 teams in the tournament. Georgia Tech wound up winning it all, with 14-under 850. The Cavaliers were determined to put on a better showing for the second tournament of the fall season—and that’s exactly what they did, on both a team and individual level.
The Northern Intercollegiate at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. took place on September 24th and 25th and was a true highlight in the Cavalier’s fall season. UVa as a team placed second with a 54-hole total of 19-under 845. The Cavaliers recorded the best final round score on September 25th, shooting 11-under 277. Charlotte native and red-shirt sophomore Ashton Poole (@half_ash) tied for first place with Oliver Farrell from Marquette University. Poole played his final four holes at 4-under par and sank a 45-foot eagle putt on his final hole, allowing him to catch Farrell. Poole wasn’t the only Cavalier player to perform well in Sugar Grove. Walsh ended up at fourth place over all, at 7-under 209.
At the third tournament of season in Johnson, Tenn., Walsh was once again one of the leaders of the Cavaliers, finishing at the top of the roster in 20th place with a three-day total of 2-under 214 in the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate. The team as a whole finished 11th, shooting a 54-hole total of 7-over 871.
Although the Cavaliers did not finish as well as they did last fall at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate when they tied for the team title with the University of Texas at Austin, they still managed to finish ahead of two top five teams— Texas A&M (2) and Oklahoma University (5), placing eighth. The Cavaliers will have plenty of time of time before their next tournament to develop their young team, which consisting of a majority underclassmen and only two seniors. Their first tournament of the spring season will take place in February at the John Burns intercollegiate in Kauai, Hawaii.
