|
Linksters may have formula for conference title Release Date:
March 5, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
A
“disappointing” second place finish in last year’s Midwest
Conference golf championships has Monmouth College coach Dave
Ragone and his team fired up for the 2009 campaign. The Fighting
Scots enter the 2009 season with a simple formula to capture their
fourth title in eight years: “Effort and Results.”
“If we put forth a
great effort in practice, we should have great results in the
match,” said Ragone, whose Scots finished just six strokes out of
the lead at last season’s championship. “We were disappointed in our
performance at conference last year. We want to get that title back
and had a good start with a great fall season. The fall gave our
guys a chance to get out there and play competitively. We had some
guys really step it up. We’re very talented and it looks like we’ll
be 10-12 guys deep.”
Ragone will have
plenty of upperclassmen to choose from when it’s time to pick his
six-man tournament team. The ninth-year head coach has two thirds of
last year’s conference tournament team returning: senior Greg
Jones (Roseville, Ill./Roseville), juniors Ryan Harvey
(Hennepin, Ill./Putnam County) and Ryan Tapscott (Port Byron,
Ill./Riverdale) and sophomore Rodney Clayton (Plano,
Ill./Plano).
“Ryan (Tapscott)
works extremely hard,” praised Ragone of his team’s lone lefty. “He
and Rodney are probably our two hardest workers. Their work ethic
really shows. Ryan has improved tremendously since his freshman
year.”
Hoping to make the
trip to the conference tournament this season is senior Jake
Kilberg (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls). After a stellar sophomore
season, Kilberg struggled a bit as a junior. If the fall season is
any indication, it looks like he has returned to form, posting
scores in the 70s in three of his five rounds.
“Jake and Greg
have similar games,” reported Ragone of his senior leaders. “They
play pretty boring golf, but in golf, boring is good. Not many
mistakes, so there’s not a whole lot of drama. For them, it’s tee,
fairway, green. We have a saying that ‘Pars win championships.’ We
think we’re in pretty good shape in that regard.”
A newcomer to the
team, junior transfer Ted Starkey (Springfield, Ill.), had a
good fall season. He’s expected to be a solid scorer for the Scots
along with junior Zach Coles (Lake Villa, Ill./Antioch).
“Ted is a very
solid player, but could be a little more consistent,” said Ragone.
“We feel he can shoot in the 70s every time out.”
Sophomore Joe
Hoffman (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) was one of
those who stepped up their game in the fall season. He shaved nearly
three strokes off his freshman average and is among the contenders
for the “A” team. Ragone expects great things from freshmen Sean
McNamara (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth-Roseville) and “big hitter”
Ben Olson (Oneida, Ill./ROWVA). McNamara impressed Ragone during
the fall campaign and Olson proved to be long off the tee.
“Joe was a very good
high school player,” reported Ragone of his sophomore. “He was
finding his college game last season, but we expect him to have a
very good spring. Sean had a very good fall and is among our hardest
workers. We’re excited to see what he can do in the spring season.
Ben can drive the ball a long way, but we need him to reel it in a
little to avoid the big numbers. He’ll be a good one as he
develops.”
Ragone feels the
Scots program has grown into one of the top teams in the region.
He’s done the math and knows what it will take to reclaim the
conference title and the automatic NCAA tournament berth that goes
with it.
“We expect our guys
to shoot in the 70s on a daily basis,” said Ragone. “We’ve got a
bunch of guys who are capable, so it’s going to be quite a battle
for the tournament team.”
Rounds in the 70s
would have been enough to win in 2008. The Scots are hoping that
will be the magic number in 2009.
|
