The Ohio State men’s golf team fell short of defending its Big Ten championship last weekend in Madison, Wis. and finished sixth overall with a score of 867.
Michigan State won the conference championship by shooting a total score of 847 with runner-up Indiana finishing five strokes behind.
“We put together a good third round, but our first two rounds weren’t very good,” OSU coach Jim Brown said. “I guess you can say in the end that we beat the teams we should have beat, but didn’t play well enough to beat anyone that was better than us going into the tournament.”
After shooting team scores of 290 and 294 in the first two rounds, the Buckeyes shaved off 11 strokes for a final round total of 283.
But, according to Brown, the same problems that have affected the Buckeyes all season again wreaked havoc in Wisconsin.
“The course played fairly easy, but our short game wasn’t very good for most of the weekend,” Brown said. “We couldn’t chip, putt or hit any wedges, and our guys are going to need to improve on that part of their game if they want to do any better next season.”
Buckeye senior Scott Anderson led the way individually for OSU by finishing tenth with rounds of 74, 73 and a third-round tally of 68 (4-under-par).
Anderson earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for his performance and will advance to the NCAA individual tournament next Thursday, competing in the Central Region Championships at the University of Notre Dame.
“I wasn’t real happy with my first two rounds, but I really put together a good third round,” Anderson said. “I kind of found something with my swing in the last round, and I’m looking forward to going into the tournament with it.”
OSU sophomore Colin Biles finished in 21st-place with a score of 218. Biles shot 1-under-par scores of 71 in the first and third rounds.
Junior Zack Randol finished 24th with a 219 score that included a 1-under-par 71 in the final round.
Buckeye freshman Jamie Miller (220) finished 29th and fellow freshman Michael Haverfield placing 41st (223).
