On Sept. 13 and 14, Union University’s men’s golf team played their first match of the year at Montevallo’s Full Moon BBQ Invitational.
The two day event was played at the Timberline Golf Club in Calera, Ala. The matchup featured 50 players from eight different teams. As is typical in collegiate golf, each team brought six seeded players to play. Union’s seeded players for this match were Gray Campbell, a freshman from Humboldt, Tenn.; Garrett McCraw, a sophomore from Jackson, Tenn.; Logan Montgomery, a senior business major; Trey Tidwell, a senior engineering major; Blake Wolfe, a junior from Jackson; and JJ Zimmer, a freshman from Jackson.
The standout performers of this invitational were Wolfe and Zimmer. Wolfe played one the best rounds of his career, allowing him to place 9th overall in the tournament.
“I was able to come out and be consistent,” Wolfe said. “Consistency was what I worked on all summer, so I’m extremely happy with the way I played this match.”
Not far behind him was the impressive performance of Zimmer with a 13th place finish. He was one shot shy of a top 10 finish.
“My game wasn’t totally clicking in some aspects,” Zimmer said. “I was close to going on a run at the end, but came up just a stroke short.”
Campbell had a rollercoaster of emotions during this match.
“You know the first day I probably played the worst round of my life,” Campbell said. “Then the next, I played one of my best this year.”
Campbell finished 41st. His second round score of 69 was the best round score among the team. He was one of 10 golfers in the tournament to score below 70 in a round.
McCraw, who finished tied for 31st, expressed his frustration after his performance at the season opener.
“I wasn’t happy with the way I started,” McCraw said. “Thankfully, I knocked some rust off and played much better in day two.”
Montgomery, who finished 37th in the tournament, expressed his thoughts on how the team played.
“We all know we’re a much more capable team this year,” Montgomery said. “We had a disappointing first round but were able to stay focused and pull out a solid second round.”
Tidwell was mostly pleased with his performance. He finished in 27th place just ahead of McCraw.
“I thought I played well,” Tidwell said. “I just need to knock down a putt or two more to help out that final score.”
Overall, the Bulldogs did not perform to their fullest potential. On the first day, they shot 297 overall. The team did better on the second day, shooting 284, the fourth best score of the day among the eight teams. The host of the tournament, Montevallo won with a final team score of 554.
The Bulldogs’ next match will be Sept. 20-21 at Delta State’s Derrall Foreman Invitational.
Photo courtesy of UUAthletics