Jackson, Tennessee -- The Indian Hills golf team got its spring schedule underway with a second-place finish at The Grover Page Classic, trailing only the host school, UT-Martin, after the 54-hole event. The Warriors edged Green Bay by one stroke for the runnerup spot. They were 23 shots behind the winners.
"With the wind, rain and fastest greens we will see all year we had our work cut out for us from the get go," said IHCC coach John Mulholland. "Along with playing against a bunch of NCAA DI teams we knew we would need to perform in the first round to have any chance of taking home a trophy."
Indian Hills had five of the top 20 golfers, led by freshman Thomas Burou who tied for 4th and was a member of the all-tournament team. Burou got better as the meet went along, opening with a 75 over the Jackson Country Club course and following with rounds of 73 and 71. "Thomas made a statement with his final round 71 that tied the low round of the day," said Mulholland. Burou's 219 total was two shots better than teammate Antoine Sale, who wound up in a tie for 8th at 221. Sale, in his first tourney for IHCC, shot 76-72-73 over the par-72 course. "Antoine got off to a great start as a Warrior," Mulholland said. "I expect him to gain a lot of confidence from this week and use it moving forward."
Three Warriors squeezed into the top 20 -- Jesse MacNaughtan in 17th and Harry Fearn and Ethan Keane in a tie for 19th place. Their best round was a 72 for Fearn in Monday's second 18 holes. "A lot of positives for Ethan and Jesse with their final round 73s, which could have been much lower except for a few short misses down the stretch," Mulholland pointed out.
One of only two two-year schools in the nine-team field, Indian Hills was 38 shots ahead of John A. Logan, the other two-year college. IHCC had team scores of 300-301-299 for a 900 total. UT-Martin shot 877.
Mulholland noted, "It's always good to start off with a higher level event to kick off the spring and see where we are at. It was a really good team effort, but individually we know we could have done better with our execution of shots on the greens. We are looking forward to our next event in Texas against another good field that will include ranked teams Midland, New Mexico JC and Hutchinson in attendance, along with a host of top-ranked NCAA DII teams."
Next up for Indian Hills is a trip to the Lion Invitational in Trophy Club, Texas Mar. 23-24.
The Grover Page Classic
Team scores
- UT-Martin 292-294-291=877; 2. Indian Hills 300-301-299=900; 3. Green Bay 301-296-304=901; 4. Bradley 301-301-304=906; 5. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 304-295-315=914; 6. Alabama State 301-315-305=921; 7. John A. Logan 318-311-309=938; 8. Tennessee State 320-312-312=944; 9. Alabama A&M 349-325-331=1005
Indian Hills scores
T4. Thomas Burou 75-73-71=219; T8. Antoine Sale 76-72-73=221; T17. Jesse MacNaughtan 74-78-73=225; T19. Harry Fearn 75-72-79=226; T19. Ethan Keane 79-74-73=226; T23. Cyril Henault 74-77-78=229; T26. Harry Doig 77-78-75=230; T29. Blade Gadd 80-76-76=232