MT fourth at Intercollegiate

Sunday, October 26

College Grove, TN/The Grove

Middle Tennessee

The Intercollegiate at The Grove

10/28/2014 4:15:00 PM | Men's Golf

Ohio State takes title

By: @MTAthletics

RESULTS - PHOTO GALLERY - HIGHLIGHTS

COLLEGE GROVE – It only took 54 holes over three days for The Grove to prove itself as a daunting and difficult par 72 course.

However, trying telling that Ohio State sophomore Clark Engle.

As the scores deteriorated over the past two days Engle's game only got better. He was 4- under par 68 after being 2-under on Monday when the south breezes first began picking up, but finished with a three-round total of 213 to win the inaugural individual title at the Intercollegiate at The Grove.

Engle won the individual title by one stroke over John Jonas from the College of Charleston.

"I really didn't get upset about any bad shots," said Engle, who favors long courses and using his driver as often as he can.

Ohio State coach Donnie Darr said it was the most focused he's ever seen Engle.

"Nothing bothered him," said Darr, who noted that Engle has worked hard to improve his mental toughness, which was something he addressed with the team following a disappointing opening round on Monday. "We just didn't compete very well."

Darr indicated that he had a "serious little chat" in which he said "some things that needed to be said."

Ohio State, ranked 39th in the country, responded nicely on Monday, but showed their true toughness on Tuesday as the wind picked up and the grey cloud-cover dropped with the temperature.

The conditions on Tuesday made the course much more difficult than it played on Sunday when 12 players in all finished under par.

Ohio State finished the third round with a pair of 68s – like Engle, Grant Weaver was also 4-under – while Nick Sparling was even at 72 and Boo Timko was one over, their 281 combined score was enough to catapult them from a tie for fourth to winning the team title by eight strokes over Troy, who had led after each of the first two rounds.

"I think that's who we are and I think that's who we can be day-in and day-out," said Darr, who noted that his roster has players who are good mentally and get a lot of out their game, while some others are talented, but hard on themselves. "Today, I think, we had our game physically and, I think, we handled ourselves emotionally."

Despite winning the individual title, Engle focused on the team effort.

"That was an amazing comeback by our team today," he said. "I'm proud of the team. We really didn't play as good as we could the past couple of days and it was good to have three of our guys shoot even or under par and another one shoot one over."

Middle Tennessee finished fourth out of 12-teams and moved up three spots on the leaderboard.

Their final round of 291 was two over par and the second best pace on the course.

"This is exactly what we wanted to see," Turnbow said, "we wanted to see them compete and get in the mix. They got to playing pretty well today and moving up the leaderboard and it got it a tight there at the top and that's something they haven't really experienced.

"It was good for everybody, but especially the young guys to get in that situation we just like to see them digging and fighting and competing. That's what you're looking for."

Coming into the tournament, head coach Whit Turnbow said the Blue Raiders hadn't played as well as they would have liked in the fall season, but hoped for a strong finish.

Freshman Connor Smith paced the Blue Raiders with a three-round 216 that was capped off by a three under par 69 on Tuesday – one of only four players to come into the clubhouse under 72.

Like other teams mentioned, Turnbow said the course never played easy but Sunday was the easiest and Tuesday was the most difficult, so he was thrilled to see a true freshman shoot three under par.

Drake Duncan finished with 223 and Payne Denman was 224, while Andrew Cho, who was playing in his last college tournament before returning home to South Korea to serve a two-year military term, was 229 and Brett Patterson was 230.

Turnbow, who spent nine months planning and preparing for the Intercollegiate, said he often leans on his seniors – Patterson and Denman – for their leadership.

"They make my job easier," explained Turnbow, who said he rarely, if ever, makes a decision without involving them in the discussion.

The Intercollegiate at The Grove comes on the heels of a three-week break for the Blue Raiders, who had previously played three tournaments in a span of four weeks.

The team knew coming in they would live with the results of this one for a little less than three months.

"It's about attitude and effort at the end of the day," said Turnbow, who's happy with his team's effort and competitiveness.

Troy (882) finished second behind Ohio State (874), while GRU Augusta (883), Middle Tennessee (891) and College of Charleston (896) rounded out the Top 5 followed by Lipscomb (897), Southern Miss (901), Mississippi State (904), Tennessee Tech (907), Cincinnati (912), Tulsa (913) and Belmont (924).