CHICAGO —
There was definitely a British presence on the top of the individual leaderboard Tuesday at the Chicago State ‘Cougar’ Classic.
Indian Hills head golf coach Mike Hagen wouldn’t mind if stayed there at several tournaments this upcoming spring.
Playing with the lead for the first time in his young career at IHCC, Oscar Sharpe held off his teammate and English countrymate Ben Ludlam for the individual title Tuesday in the Windy City. Both Sharpe and Ludlam finished with one-over-par 73’s in the final round, leaving Sharpe on top by a shot over Ludlam with a two-round two-under total of 142.
“That’s what we brought him in for,” Hagen said of Sharpe. “He was one of bigger recruits. That’s what we expected. He struggled early on this fall, but I’m really proud of how he played these past two days.”
The efforts of Sharpe and Ludlam guided IHCC to a second-place finish in their first tournament competition in almost a month. Indian Hills fired one of the rounds of the day as a team with a final-round 300, overcoming overnight tournament leader Valparaiso by one shot on the final leaderboard.
The Warriors’ round, however, was matched by Green Bay. The Pheonix held off IHCC with their own final-round 300 to post a two-round 590, four shots ahead of IHCC.
“It was a good field and going in, our goal was to top Valparaiso and beat them,” Hagen said. “Green Bay played some really tough golf all day. They didn’t give anything up. The wind blew a lot and you’d have to have a really special round to catch them.”
“As it turned out, those early mistakes on Monday proved to be costly.”
Top-ranked Indian Hills has had first, second and third-place finishes in their three fall season meets. Only Division I four-year schools Green Bay, Wichita State and Kansas State have been able to beat the two-time defending NJCAA national champs.
IHCC will get to see if they can maintain that success against their fellow junior college title contenders in their fall finale. The Warriors will head to Lubbock, Texas next week to compete in the NJCAA National Preview Tournament starting next Monday.
“We’re in a good place heading into the national preview. We’ve played in two really tough tournaments against Division I competition,” Hagen said. “We’ve seen schools from all over the country and only three have been able to beat us. We’re playing tough teams on tough courses. You want to put your team in that position to see how they react.”
Chicago State Cougar Golf Classic
At Harborside International Golf Center
Oct. 15-16
Par 72
FINAL ROUND, TUESDAY
Team scoring — 1. Green Bay 290-300-590, 2. Indian Hills 294-300-594, 3. Valparaiso Gold 286-309-595, 4. Lewis University 297-303-600, 5. St. Xavier (Ill.) 298-313-611, 6. Eastern Illinois 315-300-615, 7. Valparaiso Brown 305-311-616, 8. Parkland 310-311-621, 9. Loyola-Chicago 304-321-625, 10. Purdue-Calumet 325-328-653, 11. Chicago State 371-371-742.
Medalist — Oscar Sharpe (IHCC) 69-73-142.
Runner-up — Ben Ludlam (IHCC) 70-73-143.
IHCC team individuals — 2. Ludlam 70-73-143, T13. William White 73-77-150, T13. Mitch Tucker 74-76-150, T16. Connor Peck 77-74-151, T44. Colin Pearson 77-82-159.
Other IHCC individuals — 1. Sharpe 69-73-142, T30. Workman 72-83-155.
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October 17, 2012
Warriors golfers finish runner-up at Cougar Classic
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